One of the most dramatic moments in history occurred early one morning centuries ago as three men walked along a dusty road together. If you had been passing by on the other side, you would have seen nothing out of the ordinary—just three men talking together. But it was no ordinary day, and it was no ordinary man talking with those other two. For it was resurrection day, and the man was the risen Lord Jesus Christ.

The two disciples walking on the road to Emmaus were deeply discouraged, stunned that Jesus had died on a Roman cross. But they were also trying to make sense of reports from some women that the tomb was empty. They had no idea that the ordinary-looking man walking with them was the Lord. But Jesus is the Great Physician, and He heals more than just bodies. He ministered to their downcast hearts with a careful exposition of the Word of God, prophecies that made plain that the Christ had to suffer and rise from the dead. And as He poured forth timeless truths into their ears, their hearts began to burn within them, hotter than ever before (Luke 24:32).

God calls His Word a fire (Jer. 23:29), and our hearts are the furnace in which it was designed to burn. One of the main purposes of Scripture is to save our souls from sin; salvation is knowing God and Christ (John 17:3) and loving God with all our hearts, souls, minds, and strength (Mark 12:30). Love is likened to a blazing fire, a mighty flame (Song 8:6). Scripture works knowledge into a love that blazes like a fire. Tragically, sometimes the world, the flesh, and the devil conspire to quench that fire temporarily. We become cold, distant, and hard. How can we rekindle our delight in God and His holy Word? Let me give five brief exhortations.

1. Acknowledge your coldness.

Start by being aware of how cold your heart has been toward Bible reading. Reading has been mechanical or entirely neglected. No light, no heat—that is, no insights and no passion for God. Cry out against your heart’s coldness. The Psalms are full of prayers concerning our own defective hearts. Three times in Psalms 42 and 43, the psalmist cries out against his own heart: “Why are you so downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Hope in God” (see Ps. 42:5, 11; 43:5). If a depressed person can cry out against his soul, so can one whose heart is cold and distant from God.

2. Stop quenching the fire.

When our hearts were once on fire with scriptural truth and now they are not, we must realize that nothing has changed in the Bible; heaven and earth will pass away before a single letter changes in Scripture (Matt. 5:18). No, it is we who, by our sin, have quenched the Spirit and the fire of God’s Word (1 Thess. 5:19). Our sin soaks the wood of Scripture and makes it difficult to ignite. To regain a passion for the Word of God, we need to ask God to search our hearts and lives and show us the sin that is dousing the fire of God’s Word (Ps. 139:23–24). Follow carefully the steps of confession in James 4:1–10, and soon the fire will be ready to be rekindled.

3. Seek the Holy Spirit’s illumination.

The fire of Scripture comes through the Holy Spirit who inspired and illuminates it. On the day of Pentecost, the Spirit descended onto each Christian in tongues of fire. So, as you are praying against your cold, passionless heart, specifically ask the Spirit to ignite the fire in your heart again. Open the Bible and pray that the eyes of your heart might be enlightened by the Spirit (Eph. 1:18). It is the Spirit who made the Word a fire in Jeremiah’s heart to begin with, a fire shut up in his bones, burning so hot he could not hold it in (Jer. 20:9). So the Spirit also worked in every author of Scripture, every word coming like a coal from a heavenly altar touching the lips of Isaiah, or Paul, or Peter, or John. Ask the Spirit to make His Word burn in you again.

4. Stack the kindling.

Fires start with small, easily combustible pieces called “kindling.” As you make your way back from cold deadness to a raging fire of passion for God’s Word, start with passages that clearly speak to your soul of God’s love for you in Christ. Go to the simplest passages that have burned in you previously. Christ, moved with compassion, healed the leper (Mark 1:41). Christ welcomed little children with open arms and tender touch (Matt. 19:13–15). Christ raised Jairus’ daughter from the dead with the words, “Little girl, I say to you, arise” (Mark 5:41). Milk that nourished your infant faith in Jesus can now become kindling to reignite His fire again.

5. Add the logs.

As your heart starts to burn again with insights given by the Spirit, expand to add the logs of weightier meditations. I would suggest a slow, prayerful journey through Romans 1–11. Dwell on the deeper doctrines that root your faith in eternity. Think about God’s eternal purposes for you in Christ, predestined to be conformed to His image (Rom. 8:28–30). Walk through the deepest doctrines with prayer and wonder, crying out, “Oh, the depth of the riches and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!” (Rom. 11:33–36).

Soon, by God’s grace, you will be able to say, as did the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, “My heart is again burning within me as the Spirit opened the Scriptures to me.”

Are you looking for a gift for Dad that can help deepen his knowledge of God’s Word and equip him for family discipleship?

This week only, receive steep discounts on more than 100 biblical discipleship resources—including select items available for as little as $1. Shop and save on a variety of books, teaching series, children’s titles, study Bibles, and more. Explore the collection.

Do you know someone looking for gift recommendations? Share this special sale with them. Don’t delay—this offer ends on Saturday, June 6. While supplies last.

Not sure what to get Dad? You can also purchase gift certificates to our online store ranging in value from $10 to $500.

Ligonier Ministries joins with Christians around the world in thanking God for the life and ministry of Rosemary Jensen (1929–2026).

As the founder of the Rafiki Foundation, Rosemary labored joyfully to provide education and Christian discipleship to children, pastors, and communities throughout Africa. Her work was marked by a settled conviction that the greatest need of every person is to know God’s Word.

This commitment to the truth and life-changing power of Scripture led to Rosemary’s decades-long friendship with R.C. Sproul and Ligonier.

In 2001, Rosemary joined us at the Ligonier National Conference to reflect on how God uses His Word to bring His people to faith, transform their lives, and send them out into faithful service. Later, she wrote an article for Ligonier reminding Christians to live with values fixed on eternity, deploying our gifts and talents to further God’s everlasting kingdom.

Dr. Sproul shared Rosemary’s desire to see the church anchored in sound theology, with pastors well equipped to proclaim God’s Word faithfully for generations to come. This shared vision brought about a now-global outreach, Study Bibles for the World, gifting the Reformation Study Bible to the church where the need is greatest and faithful Christian teaching is least available.

Rosemary wanted 100,000 people throughout Africa to receive study Bibles before she died. In the Lord’s great kindness, she lived to see her vision achieved, with more than 114,000 Reformation Study Bibles distributed throughout the continent as of the end of May 2026.

Ligonier’s chairman, Dr. W. Robert Godfrey, shared these remarks following Rosemary’s death:

“By faith, Rosemary Jensen stopped the mouths of lions—at least metaphorically. She did so in her engaging way, making friends of many kinds and in many places to help her in her work of serving Christ. She was a clear-minded visionary seeking ways to encourage as many people as possible to study the Bible so they would know Jesus and grow stronger in faith. Unlike many visionaries, she was also a practical builder. She got things done at remarkable speed, whether producing Bible study materials for adults and children or building orphanages and schools where children could live, grow, and learn the Word of God.”

Chris Larson, Ligonier’s president, wrote this of Rosemary:

“I was brought into friendship with Rosemary because of her friendship with Dr. R.C. Sproul, a friendship that went back decades. Certainly, Rosemary cared deeply about missions, but never missions untethered from sound doctrine. She loved the church and wanted to see theologically faithful pastors strengthened, equipped, and encouraged to preach the Word of God with courage and conviction. She also cared deeply about the next generation of Christians, that they would be grounded in Scripture, formed by sound doctrine, and prepared to serve Christ faithfully in their own day. The Lord used Rosemary's faith to strengthen mine, and I praise God for her life and ministry.”

“God’s Word at Work.” Rafiki’s motto embodies the faithful testimony of Rosemary Jensen. Her confidence in Scripture and her devotion to serving others still bears fruit as God’s truth goes out to the nations.

God’s people are a joyful people. Joy is a hallmark of their character and influence in the world. This is not just a put-on of external happiness, but a deep well of joy and satisfaction in the Lord Jesus that is visible as fruit. As Christians, we have so much to be joyful about, yet a classic caricature of a Christian from the world’s perspective might be that we’re killjoys. The perception of Christianity is that it’s all rule-keeping and no fun.

We know from Galatians 5:22–23 that joy is a fruit of the Spirit, a product of spiritual life and health. Joy that can be visibly seen and enjoyed is a consequence of the Holy Spirit working grace in us daily. It is not forced or put on. Rather, it is natural and effortless because of an inward reality. The fruit of the Spirit is a product of the Spirit and not a product of man. Our vision of Him shapes our inclination and demeanor.

The fruit-producing work of the Spirit, where joy occurs simultaneously with love, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control, results in an abundant harvest within the church. Fruit means vitality and growth. It’s also a process, meaning that it is the regular work of the Spirit within us as He uses the Word, teaching, discipleship, and fellowship of the saints. It is a gradual work of sanctification within believers, resulting in congregations that effectively reach their communities. This is to be Christlike in thought and deed. But where does our joy truly come from?

The fruit of joy blossoms from the heart of God’s gracious work. His very indwelling by His Spirit gives joy because He Himself is joyful. This is far more than a superficial cheeriness or a passing happiness dependent on circumstance. Joy overflows from a heart wholly satisfied in Christ and daily takes delight in Him. Joy blossoms even in the most naturally melancholy believer, for our source is not a temperamental disposition, but the generous, life-giving work of God in which He gives Himself to us, filling us with Himself.

Joy as a fruit of the Spirit ensures the Spirit’s presence and enables us to rejoice in the Lord always, even when our circumstances are far from being happy. Paul says we are to rejoice in the Lord always (Phil. 4:4), drinking deeply of Jesus. Loving Jesus actively stirs our affections and deepens our joy in Him.

The preacher C.H. Spurgeon struggled through his life with depression. Yet, wonderfully, he was a man filled with joy. He said: “I commend cheerfulness to all who would win souls. . . . There are more flies caught with honey than with vinegar.”

When this spiritual fruit of joy takes root and multiplies, it yields an appetizing harvest of holiness, empowering believers against temptation by cultivating such a delight in God that inferior worldly delights lose their attraction. As Spurgeon observed, the joy of the Lord is and must be our strength, for those who enjoy close communion with our blessed and happy God cannot remain unaffected; they become like Him. This joyfulness makes Christians attractive, commending cheerfulness as a winsome means to draw souls, for far more are caught with sweet honey than with vinegar.

Thinking of things that taste bitter, we can have joy in the Holy Spirit even through affliction and persecution, through times of testing, hardship, and suffering. In Romans 5, Paul writes:

We rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance,  and endurance produces character, and character produces hope,  and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. (Rom. 5:3–5)

The consequence of our knowledge and assurance of God’s love toward us is a deep and unsinkable joy.

Furthermore, in 1 Peter 1:8, the Apostle talks of joy unspeakable and full of glory. Though we haven’t seen our Savior, yet loving and fully believing, we rejoice. Though, like these early believers, with faith tested severely, we can sing with full hearts, having joy that is so overwhelming that words might even fail us. This is a delicious taste of eternal glory, where we will possess such joy and rejoice before the Lamb of God. Yes, there will be a marriage supper with the Lamb, full of joy, feasting, and glory.

As my husband and I were preparing to go to Africa as missionaries more than fifty years ago, we eagerly sought wisdom from those who had gone before us. One such retired missionary doctor who had served the Lord for many years had a lasting impact on our lives. We knew him as a kind and gentle man who was more interested in encouraging us to go to Africa than in talking about himself. It was his relatives who told us about his habit of giving. Apparently the IRS frequently investigated his income tax statements because they could not believe that a person with modest means would consistently give fifty percent of his gross income to missions. After a lifetime of missionary service this man was still laying up treasure in heaven.

My husband and I from the beginning of our marriage had started the practice of tithing ten percent of our income, but as a young woman in my twenties, our older missionary friend prompted me to set the goal of someday being able to give fifty percent of our gross income to the work of the Lord in the place of His choosing. I hoped that would be to missions in Africa. I wanted to lay up treasure in heaven as our friend had done, and fortunately my husband agreed with me.

But there are many ways to lay up treasure in heaven, and perhaps before we talk about those ways we should talk about what we mean by treasures.

What are treasures?

God lays up His own treasures in heaven. They are the souls of His people.

Our treasures are the gifts that God has given us to use for His glory. Our treasures consist of time, talents, energy, creativity, and material wealth. Of course, all these belong to God anyway. In fact, we owe our whole lives to Him in gratitude for what He has given us in Christ Jesus.

However, this article is primarily about material wealth, and that means our money. It’s money that moth and rust can destroy and that thieves can break in and steal. Where we put our money tells volumes about us. Truly, where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Furthermore, our conversation is always about those things that are close to our hearts.

How are we to use the money that God in His grace has given us? I would suggest that there are three ways to use our finances that are biblical.

First, we must meet the needs of life for our families and ourselves. Our Father in heaven knows that even as Christians we need certain things to sustain us. Since He tells us that earthly fathers give good gifts to their children, He surely would have us be generous and wise in providing for our families.

Second, we are to give the tithe to our churches. This tithe should be at least one tenth of our gross earnings. Although many think that this is Old Testament thinking and that New Testament Christians are not expected to tithe, I do not see that this obligation to support churches and ministers has ever been repealed. Those who minister should be given a fair wage, and the costs of building and operating a church are considerable. Those who receive from the church owe it to their church to see that the needs of the church are met. I can attest to the fact that there is great joy in placing our tithe money in the offering plate each month. Some people say that they give a part of their tithe to the poor or other ministries of mercy besides the church. There are many good programs and causes in our world that cry out for our funds, but I am convinced that the tithe should go to the local church where we are privileged to worship, pray, hear the Scriptures read and taught, partake of the sacraments and fellowship with other believers. What we give to other ministries should be above the tithe. I call this extra giving “sacrificial giving.”

Third, we are to participate in sacrificial giving to others besides our church as the Holy Spirit leads us. We are to give to those needs or programs that God puts on our hearts. When we give to these things we are laying up treasure in heaven.

How are treasures laid up in heaven?

As a teenager, God had given me a love for His Word and also a desire to help the needy. From the time I was seventeen years old, I had the desire to be a missionary, and after I was married, God granted my desire. My husband and I spent nine years in Tanzania, East Africa, and after we returned I was privileged to teach the Bible in the United States for a number of years. However, God would not let me forget Africa. My heart was there and so was some of my treasure. Then in God’s grace, with the help of my husband and several others, I was able to start the Rafiki Foundation to teach the Bible and to help the needy in Africa. In 1987 the Rafiki Foundation was registered as a non-profit organization set up to assist Africans in meeting their practical needs as well as their spiritual needs. Rafiki at this time operates Rafiki Training Villages in ten African countries where orphans are cared for and educated and where the Bible is taught daily. Rafiki also trains local groups to do the same. It should not be surprising that since my heart is in Africa I would want to put my treasure there.

The way that I lay up treasure is by giving money and time and energy to caring for and educating orphans and making sure they receive good, solid Bible teaching every day. Our Rafiki Villages not only teach our orphans, we teach every person who participates in village life from the smallest orphan to the mammas to the laborers and to the teachers. And as if that were not enough treasure being laid up, God has given Rafiki the open doors to provide Bible study material to the schools of our partner denominations. It is possible that Rafiki Bible study material could be taught to several million children in the coming years. That’s treasure being laid up in heaven because God’s Word will do its work in the lives of children. Of course, producing and distributing these materials takes money. Rafiki looks to God to lay on the hearts of those who want to lay up this kind of treasure to give to this effort.

Where can I find venues for giving?

There are many worthwhile programs that lay up treasure in heaven. When I am asked for suggestions of places to give I naturally start with Rafiki, but then I warn potential donors that there are many fraudulent groups seeking funds, especially those who say they are working with AIDS orphans in Africa. Donors would be wise to check very carefully before giving their funds to any organization. Get the facts first. Here are some points for those wanting to give to orphans in Africa:

How long has the organization been operating in Africa? There are many fly-by-night organizations that start and then fall by the wayside.

Who funds them? Are they adequately capitalized or are they hoping that you will get them started? I can attest to the fact that it takes a great deal of money to operate even a small orphanage in Africa.

Does the organization hold a 501c3 status? Make sure you can get a tax deduction for your giving.

Who are they helping? Is the money going to a cause that really needs it?

Is the organization Christian? If it is not, then its work will not have eternal benefits. Wise givers want their funds to count for eternity. That’s what it means to lay up treasure in heaven.

Where do I get my treasure?

Often we say that we would give more if we had more to give. It would seem that believing the words of Jesus is the key to having funds to give. In Luke 6:38 Jesus said, “Give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you.”

Giving is a matter of faith. Trust God to keep this promise to give to you and you will have more than enough to lay up treasure in heaven.

Do our beliefs about God come from social media or Scripture? How do we learn who we are—by listening to influencers or to the inspired Word?

In a sea of swirling opinions, it’s vital that we build our faith on the Bible as our immovable foundation.

Join us in a city near you for an upcoming Always Ready event for Christians ages 12–18. Together, we’ll explore who God is, why we can trust the Bible, and how the gospel of Jesus Christ shapes our whole lives.

Save the date for an upcoming Always Ready event this fall:  

• Sanford, FL – September 19
• Santa Clarita, CA – October 10 
• Atlanta, GA – October 17

Group discounts are available—bring your youth group, young family members, and friends to one of our Always Ready events. Additional details for each event will be available soon.

Christians today must consider difficult questions about sex and gender that would have been unimaginable even twenty years ago. The forsaking of objective truth and the rejection of Scripture as God’s authoritative Word to humankind, along with the embrace of radical individualism, have resulted in a society that accepts no fundamental bedrock of truth or reality, opting instead for the shifting sands of subjectivity and personal desires. The following resources, curated by the Ligonier editorial team, seek to help Christians better understand this modern landscape, as well as how God’s Word can help us make sense of and respond to these cultural shifts.

A Field Guide on Gender and Sexuality by Ligonier Editorial

This field guide offers biblical answers to questions about gender, sexuality, and identity. Each answer seeks to help Christians stand firm in their convictions, navigate relationships with true compassion, and proclaim the liberating hope of the gospel.

Five Lies of Our Anti-Christian Age by Rosaria Butterfield

This book addresses five common lies about sexuality, faith, feminism, gender roles, and modesty in today’s secular culture. Written as a memoir, the book approaches these topics from the perspectives of Scripture and theology, cultural studies, literary criticism, and the author’s own personal battle with these lies. It aims to help women embrace godly values around womanhood, marriage, and motherhood while also addressing modern issues such as transgenderism and homosexuality.

The New Reformation Catechism on Human Sexuality by Christopher J. Gordon 

This resource is a modern, pastoral catechism based on the Heidelberg Catechism (1563) that helps to instruct Christians in the truth of biblical human sexuality. It is divided into four parts that cover questions related to creation, fall, redemption, and restoration. This catechism may be used for Bible studies, Sunday school classes, family devotions, and other discipleship contexts.

The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self: Cultural Amnesia, Expressive Individualism, and the Road to Sexual Revolution by Carl R. Trueman 

This book analyzes the development of the sexual revolution, noting that it is simply one manifestation of the larger revolution of the self that has occurred in the West. Dr. Trueman discusses the key shifts in popular beliefs and explores the background of those shifts, saying that the sexual revolution of the last sixty years “cannot be properly understood until it is set within the context of a much broader transformation in how society understands the nature of human selfhood.”

Gender Ideology: What Do Christians Need to Know? by Sharon James

Christians today increasingly find themselves in situations where they encounter family members, friends, and acquaintances who identify with a gender other than the one they were born with. In this practical guide, Dr. Sharon James looks at how the Bible speaks to the issue of gender ideology, answering questions such as “Can we really change sex?”, “Where did ‘gender theory’ come from?”, and “How should we respond?”¹

Your support of Ligonier Ministries can help Christians take courage in our confused age.

Countless people are lost today. They wander through life without certainty and without hope. This confusion is not merely intellectual. It is profoundly spiritual. When we do not know who God is, we cannot rightly know who we are. Nor can we understand the world in which we live.

This is why theology matters.

For many years, Dr. R.C. Sproul reminded the church that everyone is a theologian. The question is not whether we think about God. The question is whether we think rightly about Him. Are our minds directed by the Word of God or by the spirit of the age? Are we guided by truth, or are we adrift in a sea of confusion?

R.C. understood that the church does not need less doctrine. The church needs doctrine that is clearly taught and faithfully applied. He believed that Christians require more than sentiment and passing inspiration. They must know God in all His holiness, sovereignty, and grace. Only the truth of God declared in all its fullness can lay the foundation for a faithful life.

This conviction has guided Ligonier from the beginning. I believe it is the conviction that our ministry supporters share. As Ligonier’s chairman, let me invite you to help people find direction in a disoriented world through trusted Christian teaching. Now, as this budget year draws to a close, your support by June 30 can accelerate the truth to more people.

As I reflect on the history of the church, I am reminded that in many periods of great confusion, God has raised up faithful witnesses to proclaim His truth. During the Protestant Reformation, the church found courageous leaders who defended the gospel of justification by faith alone. Later, as theological liberalism threatened the church, God raised up faithful teachers who would once again point His people to the authority of His Word.

In our day, the need is no less urgent. Many Christians are unprepared to answer the pressures of our culture. The rising generation is burdened by anxiety in a clamoring world. Pastors around the globe lack the training and materials they need to shepherd their people effectively.

Yet we are not discouraged, because the truth of God has not changed. The Lord Jesus Christ is still building His church (Matt. 16:18). The Word of God is still living and active (Heb. 4:12). And we continue to see God mercifully using the trusted Bible teaching of Ligonier to give courage and clarity to His people.

Driven by Dr. Sproul’s conviction that everyone is a theologian, the scope of Ligonier’s discipleship outreach extends to everyone. Today, Christians around the world are discovering the joy of theological learning and are finding security in the truth.

I often marvel at the global opportunities that God has provided for Ligonier to serve His church. R.C. planned for this teaching fellowship to have a worldwide impact on Christian discipleship, and these plans have borne extraordinary success. In the years since our founder went to be with the Lord, Ligonier’s ministry budget has doubled, while the reach of our Bible teaching has multiplied five times over.

Ligonier is not shrinking back. We are building momentum. By God’s grace, we seek to proclaim the whole counsel of God to the whole world.

This kingdom work is made possible through the prayers and generosity of friends who want to see R.C.’s vision realized. As Ligonier prepares to begin a new budget year, your support by June 30 has a direct influence on preparations for the next twelve months of outreach.

Your gift today can help:

• Accelerate the production of teaching resources and hold additional in-person training events so more Christians can defend their faith;
• Enhance the free Ligonier app and other digital platforms to give God’s people constant access to His Word in a confused world;
• Amplify the ministry of 500,000 pastors around the world by equipping them with the Reformation Study Bible;
• Strengthen the global church by translating a deep theological library into the world’s 20 most-spoken languages.

There are many worthwhile causes to support. Yet this one bears eternal significance as you help more people know the true and living God.

Even now, more doors for service are opening than Ligonier can presently enter. The same God who has blessed this ministry in the past is actively at work today. In His service, let us press forward together so more lives may be transformed in the knowledge of God.

Thank you for standing with Ligonier to proclaim the holiness of God to people of every age, in every stage of the Christian life, and in every nation.

The world today seems to have entered an age when crime flourishes openly. Despite the existence of countless prisons and entire systems dedicated to detecting and punishing wrongdoing, crime does not diminish. In earlier times, criminal acts were often hidden in darkness, carried out discreetly to avoid exposure. Now, however, wrongdoing strides boldly even in broad daylight, as if it no longer fears judgment. What was once concealed is now displayed without hesitation. Actions that once brought shame and led people to bow their heads are now defended with shameless confidence. Instead of repentance, there is defiance; instead of humility, there is arrogance. Falsehood, once considered disgraceful, is gradually becoming normalized.

There was a time when lying could result in public disgrace. Now, responsibility is frequently shifted onto others. Blame has replaced accountability. The noble calling to defend the weak, the poor, and the oppressed has, in many cases, been overshadowed by self-interest. Many are preoccupied not with justice but with securing personal gain. The language of righteousness remains, but its substance has largely faded.

In such a world, an important question arises: Should the church follow the same path?

The church is called to be different. The church once pointed to the power to awaken conscience, to raise people’s awareness to the shame of wrongdoing, and to lead people to repentance and transformation in Christ. Yet this influence has significantly weakened.

The root of the problem lies, in part, with those entrusted with truth. In the world, those who administer the law often violate it themselves. In the church, the failure is seen in the reluctance of pastors and leaders to speak with courage. When sin is no longer identified as sin, and evil is not condemned as evil, the very foundation of the gospel is undermined. Without a recognition of sin’s seriousness, people do not understand the suffering and sacrifice of Christ. Through subtle manipulation of language, wrongdoing is excused, evil is redefined as good, and injustice is presented as justice. In such a climate, true judgment according to righteousness becomes rare.

Consequently, the credibility of the church has suffered greatly. What was once respected is now often ridiculed. The church, which should stand as a witness to unchanging truth, sometimes appears willing to adjust that truth according to cultural trends. When this happens, it loses both its credibility and its influence. It is difficult for the world to respect a church that does not remain faithful to its own message.

Nevertheless, the present situation is not the final reality. Scripture reminds us that a day of judgment is coming. The imagery of a corrupt and powerful system, symbolized as Babylon, illustrates how widespread and influential evil can become. It draws nations into moral compromise and enriches those who participate in its corruption. Yet this system is not permanent. Divine judgment will come, and it will be decisive.

Those who align themselves with truth, who are described as the called, chosen, and faithful, are assured of ultimate victory. They are urged to separate themselves from corruption and not to participate in wrongdoing. This call is both a warning and an invitation to remain faithful in the midst of widespread compromise.

From a human perspective, it may seem that wealth, power, and success define blessing. The world celebrates those who possess influence and prosperity. However, the life of Christ presents a different perspective. He was born not into privilege but into humility, as the son of a carpenter, in the most modest of circumstances. Though He possessed ultimate authority, He did not use it to assert worldly dominance. Instead, He endured injustice, even to the point of death.

The history of the gospel reveals that its power is often displayed in unexpected places—among the weak, the overlooked, and the marginalized. It challenges human assumptions about strength and success. It humbles the proud and calls the powerful to account. It demonstrates that true victory does not belong to those who dominate in the present age, but to those who remain faithful to truth.

In light of this, the church is called not to conform, but to awaken. Its role is not to echo the values of the world, but to bear witness to a higher standard. Though the present age may appear to belong to those who act without restraint, this is only temporary. The final victory belongs to the Lord. Therefore, we must speak truth without compromise, live with integrity, and stand as a light in a darkened world.

Growing up in a Southern Baptist home in the 1980s, I didn’t really know how to answer the question “What is a catechism?” I had only heard the term catechism mentioned occasionally by my Episcopal and Roman Catholic friends. So, for me, it sounded like a dusty relic from the past shrouded in high church mystery. Little did I know that catechisms would eventually play a major role in my theological education, in the Christian nurture of my children, and in the discipleship of the church that I pastor.

What, then, is a catechism? In its most common form, a catechism is a “handbook to instruct . . . in the essentials of Christian belief, prayer, worship, and behavior.”¹ Catechisms are arranged as a series of questions followed by answers that are to be memorized. While many catechisms are designed for the instruction of children, others go deeper into the “faith that was once for all delivered to the saints” (Jude 3). Therefore, catechisms are for all Christians of every age and stage, from the youngest child to the most seasoned saint, as we together seek to “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 3:18). Why should we incorporate catechesis, the art of using catechisms, as part of our Christian formation? Because catechesis is biblical, historical, and helpful.

Catechesis is biblical.

The term “catechesis” comes from a Greek word meaning “instruction” and is found, in various forms, seven times in the New Testament.² We find in the Scriptures a multitude of commands, encouragements, and exhortations to instruct, to teach “sound doctrine” in the church, and to pass it down from one generation to another (Titus 1:9; 2:1). Consider Moses’ words to parents as they prepared to enter the promised land:

And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. (Deut. 6:6–7)

Similarly, the early Christians gave special attention to “the apostles’ teaching” (Acts 2:42). They labored to maintain, stand firm in, and hold onto these traditions that were taught, “either by spoken word” or by “letter” (2 Thess. 2:15; see also 1 Cor. 11:2). Yet this emphasis on catechesis didn’t stop at the end of the Apostolic age. It thrived and flourished during some of the most pivotal times in church history.

Catechesis is historical.

Imagine coming to Christ from a completely pagan background, with no real understanding of the Bible. This was the situation for new Christians during the early church era (AD 100–500). How did the church respond? By a vigorous program of catechesis to instruct these converts in the basics of the Christian faith to prepare them for baptism and church membership. This instruction could last for two or three years,³ laying a firm foundation and preparing new believers to withstand the fires of persecution and the siren song of destructive heresies and false teaching.

Sadly, during the Middle Ages (500–1500), catechetical instruction waned, but it once again rose to prominence during the Protestant Reformation. The great reformers Martin Luther and John Calvin wrote catechisms for the children of their congregations based on the Apostles’ Creed, the Ten Commandments, the Lord’s Prayer, and instruction in the sacraments. In so doing, they succinctly set out the gospel they had recovered, clearing it from the superstitions and human traditions that had clouded the simple truths of salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone—a gospel that is found in Scripture alone, to the glory of God alone.

Soon, the English Book of Common Prayer included a catechism. The heartwarming Heidelberg Catechism (1563) was penned shortly after and has been preached in pulpits and taught in homes ever since. Less than a century later (1647), the splendid Shorter and Larger Catechisms of the Westminster Assembly made their way into the homes of British Puritans and eventually made the journey over to the New World. The Baptist Catechism (1695) next appeared. Therefore, all major groups of evangelical Protestants have historically employed catechesis as a means of Christian discipleship.

Catechesis is helpful.

I am very thankful that the seminary I attended required each student to memorize the Westminster Shorter Catechism. I find its compact yet thorough doctrinal definitions helpful each week as I prepare sermons, teach Sunday school lessons, and counsel Christians in times of need. It’s been my joy to teach and preach through it, along with the Heidelberg Catechism, so that God’s people would be “rooted and grounded” in the gospel of grace (Eph. 3:17).

But catechisms aren’t just helpful for preachers. As my children—along with all Christians—meet with disorienting contemporary challenges to the truth about God, the Bible, their personhood, and their salvation, I am increasingly thankful for the time that I spent with them at their bedsides with their own little green copy of the Catechism for Young Children. I wouldn’t trade one moment of that precious time, going through each question so that they know who they are (beloved children created in God’s image), and whose they are (those who have been redeemed from their sins by Jesus Christ), freed to live a life of gratitude, obedience, and hope until He calls them home to live with Him forever.

What is a catechism? It is a biblical, historical, and helpful tool to teach Christians of all ages the gospel of our salvation in our Lord Jesus Christ (Eph. 1:14).

It was just after 11 p.m. on an unusually cold January night in north Florida when the knock came at our door—a dreaded knock that no parent ever wants to receive. The knock informed us that our twenty-three-year-old firstborn son, a firefighter and paramedic, had just died.

And it felt as though we died. Our hearts were frozen stiff in that cold night air. How do you go on? How do you endure in the midst of suffering? How do you face the deepest miseries of life? What are the things that will ballast your soul in fierce storms of this present evil age? Here are three plain biblical truths that have helped me. They are not new truths. They are probably all things you already know and believe. They are certainly things that as a pastor I had known and believed for many years, and yet they are truths that have, in the midst of personal tragedy, become more precious to me than ever before.

1. God is always good.

After Sam died, I did what I often do. I read. I read the Bible. I read books on suffering, on grieving, on loss, on lament, and a lot of books on heaven. But of all the things I read, one of the most surprisingly helpful things came from a children’s book by Jonathan Gibson called The Moon Is Always Round. I had picked it up to read with my disabled daughter to help her process her loss. I think in the end, it may have been just as helpful for me.

In this little book, Dr. Gibson uses an analogy drawn from the phases of the moon to help explain the goodness of God. The simple illustration is that in spite of the way things may appear from our perspective, “The moon is always round.” Sometimes it may look like an apple slice or a squished orange, and sometimes it may give only a sliver of light, but however it might appear, the truth remains that the moon is always round.

And what is true of the moon is true of God. Sometimes, in the dark night of the soul, God’s goodness appears hidden: hidden behind deep sorrows, profound losses, and excruciating griefs. And yet the Scriptures testify to the fact that in spite of how it might appear, God is always good:

For the Lord is good;
his steadfast love endures forever,
and his faithfulness to all generations. (Ps. 100:5)

He is good in His being, in His works, and in all His ways, and He does not change (Mal. 3:6). So even when it is hard for us to see, even when His goodness seems hidden by the shadow of a difficult providence, we can trust in the goodness of God.

There is no greater demonstration of that fact than the cross itself. Nowhere does the dark shadow of God’s providence seem to cover His goodness more than at Calvary. And yet even there, even when His face seemed to be most hidden, the light of His goodness was shining in all its resplendent roundness. If this was true on that darkest day of history, then it is true in your darkest day as well.

2. God works evil things for good.

The second truth is a corollary of the first. In Genesis 50:20, Joseph makes the profound confession that what his brothers had meant for evil “God meant for good.” The same God who summoned the famine was also the God who sent Joseph ahead of them to save them. In the end, Joseph would get to see the good that God had been doing. After all, Joseph says, “God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive.” Those people included his brothers and the whole house of Israel. But Joseph didn’t get to see that in the midst of the trial, in the pit, in the dungeon, or when his feet and neck were bound. In those times, the word of the Lord was testing him. Would he trust that God was good and working good in spite of how it seemed? (Ps. 105:16–19).

We may never get to see all the good that God is doing. The secret things belong to God (Deut. 29:29). But I trust that one day in glory we may yet get to behold the full tapestry of God’s providence. And perhaps then we will better appreciate how these perplexingly dark threads were woven into the whole of His purposes serving to make the surrounding threads of His goodness shine all the more brightly.

3. God is working all things together for good in me.

The third truth is a corollary of these first two. Romans 8:28 says, “And we know that *for those who love God *all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” The good that God works is specifically “for those who love” Him and “who are called according to his purpose.” It is a particular sort of good: that we might “be conformed to the image of his Son” (Rom. 8:29).

Through suffering, God is conforming us to the image of His Son. When we are faced with personal tragedies, we should remember that God is not just working outside of us, but He is working in us. He is sanctifying us and shaping us to become more like Christ. It’s not in a way we might choose, but it’s in a way that He knows is best.

Just about every morning I still walk to the cemetery where my son is buried. Some days it feels more like limping. And every day, I long for that day when Jesus will come again to wipe these tears from my eyes, to raise our bodies from the dust, and to make all things new. Until then, every day I kneel at my son’s grave, and I draw two things in the dirt. I draw a moon to remind myself that God is always good, and I draw a cross to remind me of the greatest expression of His goodness. And then I pray that this suffering would not be wasted on me, but that God would be pleased to use it to conform me into the image of His Son.

When someone we know is hurting or struggling, one of the greatest privileges we have as believers is to go with that person before the throne of God and intercede on their behalf and pray with them. Because Christ Himself intercedes for us (Rom. 8:34), we are encouraged to imitate Him and walk in obedience to God’s Word. But where do we start? Sometimes our own fears can cause us to stumble in this sacred opportunity. But Scripture offers us wisdom to guide our prayers for those facing hardship. 

Look Up

King David was in great distress on more than one occasion in his life. During such a season of anxiety, fear, and running for his life, his friend Jonathan met with him: “David was in the wilderness of Ziph at Horesh. And Jonathan, Saul’s son, rose and went to David at Horesh, and strengthened his hand in God” (1 Sam. 23:15–16). In the middle of a crisis in the dark setting of a forest, Jonathan took the initiative to go to David and counsel him to look to God for his strength. We know the effectiveness of this time together because it became the foundational principle of David’s psalms. We hear this beautiful reality in Psalm 3:3:

But you, O Lord, are a shield about me,
my glory, and the lifter of my head.

A person in crisis or who is hurting is often in need of a tangible intercessor, someone willing to lift their head while they look up to pray. This is our starting point in praying with someone in a crisis: We meet them in the middle of their turmoil and strengthen them in the Lord. But we can’t stop there. When someone is entangled in the messiness of life, the last thing they need is to do a deep dive into their own heart to untangle it. For,

The heart is deceitful above all things,
and desperately sick;
who can understand it? (Jer. 17:9)

It takes an upward and outward focus on the One who is far greater and more powerful than we are to help. Our God is above all, knows all, and reigns over all. He cares for us in every way and is the only One great enough to carry and sort through everything we face. Therefore, we can run to Him, our heavenly Father, with our cares, trusting in His compassion, mercy, patience, kindness, gentleness—and even His justice. This is where many believers today wrestle to think rightly about God, much less enter into prayer to Him authentically. Our prayers are to help those in distress look up to the one true living God as their “Abba, Father” (Rom. 8:15). He tells us,

I will be a father to you,
and you shall be sons and daughters to me,
says the Lord Almighty. (2 Cor. 6:18)

Remember

After lifting the weary soul toward heaven and away from self, as intercessors, we must help them recall what our heavenly Father has faithfully done for them. There is nothing more powerful than recounting the faithfulness of God Almighty toward His fainthearted children. He has never failed; they can trust Him. Unlike our earthly fathers, He has shown His steadfast love both tenderly and fiercely. He is a father they can trust.

Let’s be like Asaph to our friend in need:

I will remember the deeds of the Lord;
yes, I will remember your wonders of old. (Ps. 77:11–12)

Remembering what God has done in the past gives us hope for what He has promised to do now and in the future. Israel was frequently called to remember what the Lord had said or done for them. In fact, they were commanded to remember and to tell generation after generation. Remembering God’s good order and deeds builds faith, especially when we are weary.  

Abound in Hope

Prayers that look up and remember have the power to lead your friend to a harbor of hope. God promises we will never be put to shame in our hope in Him and His promises toward us (Rom. 5:5). It’s good to assist them in keeping their eyes fixed on Him, not a desired outcome.

Praying God’s Word is crucial for the heart that is overwhelmed, alone, trapped, fearful, or hopeless. Speaking God’s truth, such as promises of His constant presence, will offer encouragement and strength to help them persevere in their struggle. Remind them that hope anchored in God will never leave them wanting.

For he satisfies the longing soul,
and the hungry soul he fills with good things. (Ps. 107:9)

Now you must trust God to satisfy your friend’s soul.

If you’ve been praying with someone who is suffering in this life and is not a believer, you have just done the work of a plowshare. It is time to drop those seeds of the gospel ever so gently into the soil of the broken heart before you. The words of hope found in the gospel are what every grieving, confused, sin-laden, bruised, and battered heart needs to hear. The truth that Jesus Christ has come to call them out of the darkness of unbelief into His marvelous light is where our hope is grounded (1 Peter 1:18). As Romans 15:13 says, “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.” Trust God to water that seed.

What do Canadians really believe about God, the Bible, and salvation?

For the first time ever, Ligonier Ministries Canada and Lifeway Research have partnered to find out.

The State of Theology survey takes Canada’s theological temperature, revealing what people actually believe—both outside and inside the church.

The results are now in, and they’re sobering.

Many Canadian evangelicals affirm the authority of Scripture. Yet at the same time, widespread confusion is evident in the church:

• Nearly three out of four believe that people are born innocent in God’s eyes.
• Two-thirds think of the Holy Spirit as a force rather than a personal being.
• Almost half believe that Jesus was just a great teacher—but not God.

Time to Recover the Essentials

Decline is not inevitable, and confusion is not our only option. While these survey results are sobering, they show why clear, faithful Bible teaching is needed now more than ever.

Ligonier Ministries Canada exists to support the church in helping to reverse these problematic trends by equipping Christians with trusted theological materials. To that end, we hope The State of Theology can equip you with insights for discipleship in your community.

Respond to the Results: Free Study Guide

Gather a group from your church or community to discuss the significance of these results from the State of Theology Canada survey with the free digital study guide, found at the bottom of the webpage. Each section includes discussion questions and biblical insights to guide your conversations.

Engage with the Canadian State of Theology Survey:

• View key findings.
• Explore complete survey results.
• Take The State of Theology survey to compare your responses.
• Create a private group survey for friends or members of your church.

We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and Giver of Life; who proceeds from the Father and the Son; who with the Father and the Son together is worshiped and glorified; who spoke by the prophets. (The Nicene Creed)

The Nicene Creed

This creed originates from the Council of Constantinople (381), which resolved a crisis over the doctrine of the Trinity. Among its distinctive features were its statements about the Holy Spirit, including its reference to the Spirit’s procession from the Father.

It states that the Spirit is “the Lord and Giver of life,” and so shares, with the Father and the Son, in the work of creation. He “spoke by the prophets,” and therefore is the primary Author of Scripture. As comprehensively God, He is to be worshiped and adored together with the Father and the Son in one indivisible act of worship. In short, there is one indivisible God, in three subsistences or persons, who are distinct but not separate.

Amongst this is the reference that the Spirit “proceeds from the Father and the Son.” This refers to the relations of the persons in the indivisible Trinity. The Father is the source of the personal subsistence of the Son and the Spirit, while all three are equally and exhaustively the one indivisible God.

How important is this? The following year, the Synod of Rome pronounced on the matter in its synodical letter, leaving no doubt. The Spirit is, with the Father and the Son, “one being, uncreated and of the identical being and eternal trinity.” Its series of anathemas undergird the point. These are pronounced against any who deny, among other things, that the Spirit is from the Father. Such would be a heresy and a deviation from the gospel. A similar anathema was pronounced against any who deny the omniscience and omnipresence of the Holy Spirit, say that the Spirit was created, or deny that all things were made though the Son and the Spirit. In short, the Synod—and the church ever since—considered the deity of the Spirit and His procession from the Father to be at the heart of the gospel and vital to the knowledge of God.

Is the procession of the Holy Spirit biblical?

If you want a proof text, in John 15:26 Jesus states that the Spirit “whom I will send to you from the Father . . . proceeds from the Father.” This entails an eternal relation within the Trinity between the Father and the Spirit. From this, in human history, the Father, together with the Son, sends the Spirit at Pentecost (John 14:16, 21, 23, 26; 15:26; 16:7; Acts 2:29–33). Again, this concerns the relations of the persons of the Trinity; it does not and cannot divide the Trinity.

The procession of the Spirit tells us that He is of the same nature as the Father. It points to a dynamic relation; procession indicates that the Spirit is the Spirit of life (John 6:63; Rom. 8:2, 9–11), even as the Son is life (John 1:4; 11:25–26; 20:31). God is brim-full of life.

However, this doctrine is also ineffable. A constant refrain of the Early Church Fathers was that procession could not be explained. Indeed, in order to understand what is involved, we would need to be God. Rather, it is a truth to be confessed, as it faces us with the inescapable fact that we are creatures. As Calvin wrote in a similar context, it is a mystery to be adored rather than investigated.

The Filioque Controversy

If that were all we needed to say, life would be a lot simpler. However, problems and differences arose not long afterward. While the original Nicene Creed simply stated that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father, the Latin church began adding to the Nicene Creed the word filioque, “and the Son,” claiming that the Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son. The creed did not deny this, but it did not explicitly reference the Son.

Since the Greek church held that the Father is the source of the personal subsistences of the Son and the Spirit, to add the word filioque was seen as a threat to the Father’s place in the Trinity. The Latins (the church from which Protestants descend) considered that the Son was one with the Father and that the Father has given all things into the Son’s hand, including being the spirator of the Spirit together with the Father. In their eyes, the Greeks were not giving due accord to the place of the Son in the Trinity, nor appropriate account of the relations between the Spirit and the Son. The Greeks themselves were prepared to confess that the Spirit proceeds from the Father through the Son since, for them, the account in the Gospels of Jesus’ baptism was pivotal. However, they balked at the filioque. By 1054, the differences were so sharp that relations between the Western (Latin) and Eastern (Greek) church were severed.

Was this a needless dispute? At root, it mattered to both sides since it has to do with our understanding of who God is. Doctrine matters, and frequently unhappy consequences follow deviations. However, in recent years there have been a range of attempts to broker an agreement. While some of these are open to criticism, a recognition has grown that the dispute is as much a difference of perspective as of substance.

Does this mean that we should abandon the filioque when we recite the Nicene Creed? I suggest not, for Christ is at the heart of the gospel, while the Spirit’s ministry focuses on Christ, to the glory of the Father.

Conclusion

To some readers, the Nicene Creed itself may be alien. This should change. It is the underlying root of what we believe, for it sums up what Christians have always believed. To jettison the Nicene Creed is to abandon the crystallization of biblical exegesis of the entire Christian church. The Nicene Creed “ought most thoroughly to be received and believed, for [it] may be proved by most certain warrants of holy Scripture.”¹

Editor's Note: This article was originally published on December 18, 2024.

1. The doctrine of the Trinity is one of the most fundamental doctrines in Christianity.

The Christian doctrine of God is the doctrine of the Trinity, and the Christian doctrine of God is foundational to every other Christian doctrine. There is no doctrine of Scripture (bibliology) apart from the doctrine of God because Scripture is the Word of God. Human beings are created in the image of God. Sin is rebellion against the law of God. Soteriology is the doctrine having to do with the redemptive work of God. The church is the people of God. Eschatology has to do with the final goals and plans of God.

2. The doctrine of the Trinity was not invented at the Council of Nicaea.

There is a popular myth today that the doctrine of the Trinity was invented in the fourth century at the Council of Nicaea. This is not true. In the first centuries of the church, Christians were already teaching the fundamental doctrines they found in Scripture. Scripture teaches that there is one—and only one—God. Scripture also teaches that the Father is God. Scripture teaches that the Son is God and that the Holy Spirit is God. Furthermore, Scripture teaches that the Father is not the Son or the Spirit, that the Son is not the Father or the Spirit, and that the Spirit is not the Father or the Son. Anybody who held these basic propositions of Scripture held to the foundations of the doctrine of the Trinity. Over the centuries, there arose those whose teaching denied or distorted one or more of those biblical teachings. The Council of Nicaea was called to respond to one such teaching—the teaching of Arius, who had denied that the Son is God. The Nicene Creed provided boundaries to ensure that the church teaches everything Scripture affirms.

3. The doctrine of the Trinity is not fully comprehensible to human minds.

The doctrine of the Trinity, along with the doctrine of the incarnation, is one of the great mysteries of the Christian faith. This means that it exceeds the ability of finite human minds to fully grasp. If we treat the doctrine of the Trinity like some kind of math puzzle, requiring only the right amount of ingenuity to solve, we will inevitably fall into one heresy or another. The doctrine of the Trinity is not a Rubik’s Cube. There is nothing in creation that is a precise analogy to the doctrine of the Trinity.

4. Most popular Trinitarian analogies are misleading at best and heretical at worst.

Because there is nothing in creation that is a precise analogy to the doctrine of the Trinity, most popular Trinitarian analogies are misleading at best and heretical at worst. Most end up suggesting that the three persons of the Trinity are three parts of God (e.g., the clover analogy; or the egg shell, yolk, and egg white analogy), or that they are three modes or roles of a unitarian God (e.g., the Father, Son, and Spirit “masks”; or the water, ice, and steam analogies). At best, some analogies are perhaps able to illustrate a certain aspect of the doctrine of the Trinity, but they all tend to deny one or more elements of biblical teaching.

5. Misunderstandings regarding who Jesus is tend to lead to misunderstandings of the doctrine of the Trinity.

In the incarnation, the Second Person of the Trinity, the Son, assumed a human nature, which is united to the divine nature. The human nature includes His body and His soul. This means that the Lord Jesus Christ is God-incarnate. He is one Person with two natures, and those two natures are united in the one Person of the Son without confusion, change, division, or separation. Since both natures are His natures, everything that is true of either nature is said of Him, the one Lord Jesus Christ. However, some things are said of Him according to His divine nature (e.g., being the Creator of the world) and others are said of Him according to His human nature (e.g., getting hungry or thirsty). If we confuse the divine and human natures of Christ, it will easily distort our doctrine of the Trinity, because we will read human attributes into God. For example, the Bible teaches that God is immortal (1 Tim. 6:15–16). In other words, God cannot die. But don’t we believe that Jesus is God? And didn’t Jesus die on the cross? Yes, He did, and He did so according to His human nature. A human can die. A human can suffer. A human can change. Jesus did all of these in His human nature, but we can’t transfer those human attributes into the divine nature. The divine nature cannot die or change or suffer. Similarly, Christ perfectly submitted His human will to the divine will of God, but that doesn’t mean that the divine will of the Son was submitted to the divine will of the Father. Why not? Because there is only one divine will. The Son’s divine will is the same divine will as that of the Father because the Son is God just as the Father is God. To use the language of the Nicene Creed, the Son is homoousios with the Father. If the Son’s divine will is submitted to the Father’s divine will, we no longer have the Trinity. We have polytheism.¹

The day of Pentecost in Acts was one of the great watershed moments in the history of redemption. What God had promised in Eden, unfolded through the pages of Old Testament revelation and secured through the finished work of Christ, He fulfilled on that day in Jerusalem when the Holy Spirit was given.

The day itself was already embedded in the Jewish liturgical calendar as one of the three great annual feasts. It had various associations for the Jews—the most notable being its association with the barley harvest (Ex. 23:16; Num. 28:26). But what they had celebrated as God’s provision for their physical needs would now take on a whole new significance in relation to their greatest need. What began on that first Pentecost after the resurrection and ascension of Christ would mark the inauguration of the global spiritual harvest to which the Old Testament points. Many of the Jews and proselytes who had gathered in Jerusalem from around the Roman Empire that day would return to their homes as the firstfruits of God’s saving work among the nations.

Given its focus on the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, it would be tempting to see the Spirit as the focus of Pentecost’s significance. While this is true in part, it misses the point of what stands out so clearly in Luke’s record of what happened that day. When Peter began to preach, explaining what had happened to the disciples when the Holy Spirit came upon them, he did not preach about the Spirit, but about Jesus as the Christ.

This shouldn’t be a surprise. Jesus had already said that when the Spirit was given, He would not draw attention to Himself, but to Jesus as Messiah (John 16:14). So, the entire thrust of Peter’s message pointed to Jesus’ credentials as the Christ for whom Israel had been waiting. And the crowd’s response to his sermon would be living proof that the new covenant epoch, ushered in through Christ’s finished work, had indeed begun.

All kinds of details embedded in that day point to its being the dawn of the next great phase in salvation history. As we have noted, the feast itself was significant—linking the physical harvest of crops to its spiritual counterpart in people’s lives.

So too the Spirit’s gift of speaking in tongues (Acts 2:4), in which God empowered people to speak in languages beyond their native tongue. This enabled the disciples to proclaim the gospel to the different people groups present in Jerusalem for the feast. The curse of Babel, when God confused the languages of the human race and dispersed the people over the face of the earth (Gen. 11:7–8), was redemptively reversed.

More than this, God’s promise to Abraham, “in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Gen. 12:3), was finally coming to fruition. Throughout the old covenant epoch, there were sporadic fulfilments of this pledge; but it was only through Pentecost that it began to take on its God-intended dimensions. Indeed, the scale of the response to Peter’s sermon that day—around three thousand people added to the church—was but a foretaste of what would follow in the New Testament period.

So also the gift of the Holy Spirit would be extended beyond those individuals in Old Testament times who were set apart for special office—in priestly, kingly, and prophetic ministry—to God’s people at large. Nor would the outpouring of God’s Spirit be largely restricted to those who were ethnic Jews. Peter quotes the prophet Joel, where God says, “I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh” (Acts 2:17–18, cited from Joel 2:28–32). No barrier of sex, class, or racial background would impede the Spirit’s life-changing work or His ability to equip the saints for service.

It is, however, the utterly Christ-centered character of the events of that day that provides its enduring relevance and benefit to the church through the ages. The whole thrust of Peter’s sermon—delivered with a boldness that came from the Spirit—is to lift Christ up before His listeners as the One in whom alone there is salvation. He was crucified, died, and was buried. He has also been raised according to the promise and is now “exalted at the right hand of God” (Acts 2:33) and, along with the Father, has poured out His Spirit. It is through the Spirit’s Christ-imparting presence and power in the church through the ages that the gospel continues to go forth into the world and do its work in the hearts of those who hear.

There is a very real sense in which every true church is Pentecostal—not in the sense that it needs to witness the same signs and wonders displayed that day in Jerusalem, but in the fact that the supernatural working of the Holy Spirit continues as He accompanies the gospel preached throughout the world. So too, the Spirit works in the lives of God’s people who comprise the church. In the aftermath of Pentecost in Acts, the Spirit gathered those who had professed faith into worshipping communities of the church (Acts 2:42–47), and this is true for the church in all places and all times. He is the One who not only effects salvation, but who also sanctifies God’s people in His Son. As He enfolds us into saving union with Christ, so He is the guarantor of our salvation’s being perfected in the world to come. ¹

R.C. Sproul established Ligonier Ministries’ Military Chaplain Outreach to provide a spiritual supply line for servicemen and women around the world. Today, your donation can help men and women in the military to know God and His Word.

The support of friends like you has provided tens of thousands of books, Reformation Study Bibles, video teaching series, and issues of Tabletalk magazine to soldiers. And yet, we’re hearing from new chaplains each month asking for even more resources.

Your donation today can help meet the growing demand for trusted teaching, equipping military chaplains to serve the soldiers under their care. Your gift helps provide chaplains with custom care packages that include:

• Edifying Christian books
• The Reformation Study Bible
• Video teaching series
• Issues of Tabletalk magazine

Support the Troops

We seek to raise $50,000 to help fund our Military Chaplain Outreach for the next year. Your donation today helps ensure that each military chaplain can receive the discipleship resources they need to minister to the soldiers under their care.

By God’s grace, your gift of $25, $50, or $100 can help transform lives, equipping soldiers to know God and His Word.

When I was young, my father told me, “Nick, throughout your life you will hear unbelievers in North America saying disparaging things like, ‘There are too many churches everywhere,’ or ‘There’s a church on every corner’—when, in fact, they do not attend any church on any corner.” To this, he added, “There will always be a need for God’s people to plant more biblically solid churches.” He elaborated, “There are many so-called ‘churches,’ but there are never many biblically faithful churches. God would be glorified if His people planted doctrinally solid churches on every corner of every city in every country of the world!” I didn’t understand how profoundly important that sentiment was at the time. However, having planted a church and having helped with training church planters over the years, I have come to embrace my father’s conviction about the need for church planting.

I love church planting because God is glorified when the redeemed gather together to worship Him in Spirit and in truth in faithful congregations across the face of the earth. I also love church planting because it is one of the principal ways in which the church faithfully carries out the Great Commission. The mission of the church is the discipling of God’s people among the nations (Matt. 28:18–20). God’s people are best discipled in the context of the local church. When there is no biblically sound local church in a particular locale, a church plant is needed for the purpose of lifelong discipleship.

Prior to His ascension, Jesus told His disciples:

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age. (Matt. 28:19–20)

The great Discipler charged His disciples to make disciples. How would they accomplish this? Simply put, through the work of evangelism leading to church planting and, from there, to organized churches. This is exemplified by the Apostolic commitments recorded in the book of Acts.

The Apostles didn’t simply engage in evangelistic preaching in the village greens of the cities they entered. They set in place what was necessary to ensure disciple-making and disciple-building in specific geographical regions. In short, Jesus’ charge of disciple-making is best fulfilled through the establishment of biblically faithful churches on every corner of every city in every country throughout the world. We find a key example of this in the account of Paul and Barnabas in the region of Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch in Acts 14:21–22:

When they had preached the gospel to that city and had made many disciples, they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch, strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God. And when they had appointed elders for them in every church, with prayer and fasting they committed them to the Lord in whom they had believed.

Paul and Barnabas did not stop their labor with evangelism after seeing new converts brought to saving faith in Christ through the preaching of the gospel. Rather, they returned to where they had previously made disciples. Luke tells us that they strengthened the souls of the disciples (Acts 14:22). Paul recognized that a further work was needed among those who had become disciples of Christ through the preaching of the gospel.

Luke records that “when they had appointed elders for them in every church . . . they committed them to the Lord in whom they had believed” (Acts 14:23). At the inception of the new covenant church, Paul and Barnabas understood that believers needed a church in order for them to be strengthened to “continue in the faith” (Acts 14:22). Where there was no church, they organized one with the believers there. This too is essential to discipleship. Believers are brought to saving faith and then strengthened for continuance in the faith as disciples through the ministry of local churches.

Discipleship occurs primarily through the ministry of the means of grace—namely, the Word, prayer, the sacraments, and discipline—in the context of the gathered worshiping assembly of God’s people. While some well-meaning believers may convince themselves that discipleship primarily occurs through a youth group, college ministry, one-on-one mentoring, or personal Bible study (all which have their place in the lives of the people of God), the local church is the principal sphere of discipleship. For this reason, the Lord has sent laborers out to the harvest to plant and establish local churches in which men, women, boys, and girls are discipled in the school of Christ. If we are going to be obedient to the Great Commission, we should commit to supporting the work of church planting for the discipling of Christ’s people among the nations.

The Westminster Shorter Catechism is one of the most beloved and enduring summaries of the Christian faith in the Reformed tradition. Its clarity, brevity, and theological precision have made it a foundational teaching tool for generations of believers. But how did this remarkable document come into existence? To understand the Shorter Catechism, we must step back into a time of political upheaval, ecclesiastical reform, and deep concern for doctrinal faithfulness in the mid-seventeenth century.

A Time of Crisis and Opportunity

The 1640s in England witnessed tremendous upheaval, as tensions between King Charles I and Parliament erupted into the English Civil War (1642–1651). At the heart of the conflict were not only political questions about authority and governance, but also deeply rooted disagreements about the nature of the church.

The Church of England—shaped by earlier reforms under Henry VIII, Edward VI, and Elizabeth I—retained many elements that some believed were insufficiently Reformed. The Elizabethan Settlement (1559), in particular, sought to combine a Protestant theology with a Roman Catholic aesthetic—a “middle way” (or via media) between the two. In other words, while Protestant, the Church of England retained the government as well as the experiential elements (the “smells and bells”) of Rome.

The English Puritans sought to purify the Church of England from its Roman Catholic vestiges. Influenced by the Reformed theology from Geneva and Wittenberg (among other places), they longed for the church and her worship to be more thoroughly grounded in and regulated by Scripture.

In 1643, the English Parliament called together an assembly of theologians and church leaders to advise on matters specifically of doctrine and worship. This gathering, known as the Westminster Assembly, met at Westminster Abbey in London. The assembly would not merely revise existing documents (such as the Thirty-Nine Articles) but also produce an entirely new body of doctrinal standards. Among these were the Westminster Confession of Faith, the Larger Catechism, and the Shorter Catechism.

Why a “Shorter” Catechism?

Catechisms—structured question-and-answer summaries of doctrine—had long been used in the church as tools for instruction. The Reformers, including Luther and Calvin, produced catechisms to teach biblical truth systematically, especially to children and new Christians. The Westminster Assembly followed this tradition by first producing the Westminster Larger Catechism, a comprehensive and detailed exposition of Christian doctrine. However, the assembly recognized the need for a more concise version that would be accessible to children and those new to the faith.

Thus, the Westminster Shorter Catechism was written not as a lesser document, but as a more accessible one. It distills the same rich theology of the confession and Larger Catechism into 107 carefully crafted questions and answers.

Crafting the Catechism

The Shorter Catechism was completed in 1647 (approved in 1648) and presented to both the English and Scottish churches. It reflects the collaborative work of the assembly, though certain individuals played particularly significant roles in shaping its content. The Westminster divines were deeply committed to grounding every statement in Scripture. They carefully crafted every word to be both precise and memorable. The result is a document that is both theologically robust and pedagogically effective.

The Shorter Catechism is structured in a logical and pastoral way. It begins with man’s chief end—“Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever”—and proceeds to unfold what we are to believe concerning God and what duty God requires of man. It covers doctrines such as the doctrine of Scripture, the nature of God, the decrees of God, creation, providence, the fall, redemption in Christ, and the elements of salvation. It then turns to the moral law, expounding the Ten Commandments, before addressing the means of grace: the Word, sacraments, and prayer.

Adoption and Influence

The Westminster Shorter Catechism was formally adopted by the Church of Scotland in 1648 and became a central teaching tool in Scottish Presbyterianism. Although the political situation in England shifted dramatically with the restoration of the monarchy in 1660, limiting the catechism’s official use in England, it continued to flourish in Scotland and later in Presbyterian churches around the world.

In America, the Shorter Catechism became a standard for Presbyterian churches and was (and remains) widely used in both the church and home. For centuries, children were expected to memorize its questions and answers, embedding deep theological truths in their hearts and minds. Its influence extends far beyond Presbyterian circles. Many Reformed and evangelical churches from various denominations have drawn from its language and structure in their teaching ministries.

Enduring Value

What explains the enduring power of the Westminster Shorter Catechism?

1. Its God-centeredness

It begins with God’s revelation and keeps Him at the center throughout. This reflects the Reformed conviction that theology is ultimately about God and His purposes.

2. Its biblical fidelity

The catechism is saturated with Scripture. Though the Scripture proofs were added later, they demonstrate that every doctrine is rooted in the Word of God.

3. Its clarity, brevity, and memorability

The concise, carefully worded answers make it ideal for instruction and retention. Phrases such as “justification is an act of God’s free grace” or “sanctification is the work of God’s free grace” have shaped the theological vocabulary of countless believers.

4. Its pastoral usefulness

The catechism is not merely an academic exercise; it is a tool for discipleship. It teaches believers how to think rightly about God, themselves, and the Christian life.

Conclusion

The Westminster Shorter Catechism emerged from a unique moment in history—a time of crisis, reform, and an earnest desire for doctrinal clarity. Yet its value has far outlasted the circumstances of its origin. Born out of the labors of faithful pastors and theologians, shaped by Scripture, and refined for the instruction of God’s people, it remains one of the most effective summaries of the Christian faith ever produced. In an age often marked by theological confusion and shallow teaching, the Shorter Catechism stands as a reminder that clear, concise, and biblical instruction is not only possible, but essential.

I have recently become a great-grandfather, welcoming two great-granddaughters and one great-grandson into our family. Here are some biblical thoughts about childrearing that I am passing on to my grandchildren and their spouses.

1. Parenting is an important calling that God has given you.

Psalm 78 comes to mind:

He [God] established a testimony in Jacob
and appointed a law in Israel,
which he commanded our fathers
to teach to their children,
that the next generation might know them,
the children yet unborn,
and arise and tell them to their children,
so that they should set their hope in God
and not forget the works of God. (Ps. 78:5–7)

What could be more important than passing on truth about God to the next generation? What could be a more significant legacy than generation after generation setting their hope in God? You will have many challenging opportunities in your life, but few will ever be as impactful as raising children “in the discipline and instruction of the Lord” (Eph. 6:4).

2. Learning to live under authority is foundational.

In Ephesians 6:1–3, God addresses children: “Children obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. Honor your father and your mother (this is the first commandment with a promise), that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land.” God has drawn a circle in which children are to live. The boundary of the circle is to honor and obey parents. God promises wonderful blessings as a child lives in the circle; it will go well, and they will enjoy long life.

These are blessings every child and parent wants. Honoring and obeying is more profound than just doing what one is told. It is a faith commitment to trust and obey God. In teaching your kids to be under authority, you demonstrate the foundational truth that submission to God’s authority is the pathway to blessing.

3. The heart is the wellspring of life.

Keep your heart with all vigilance,
for from it flows the springs of life. (Prov. 4:23)

Life flows from the heart. The problem we have does not just consist of the ways we sin, but the sin that lies under the sin. It is the pride, the compulsive self-centeredness, the love of self, the envy, and the assorted sinful attitudes of heart that motivate behavior. It is easy for parents to focus on behavior and miss the heart.

Jesus reminds us that behaviors such as coveting, deceit, envy, slander, arrogance, and pride flow from the heart (see Mark 7:2–23). A major part of the parenting task is helping children identify the heart attitudes that lie under the ways they sin. Of course, understanding the attitudes of heart that lie beneath your own besetting sins will facilitate asking good questions that help your children understand their hearts.

4. Keep the gospel central.

The heart of our faith is not how to be good enough to earn eternal life. The heart of our faith is the One who was good enough. Jesus is incarnate to be our Savior. He lived the life we could not live; He lived without sin so that we could have righteousness. He died the death we could not die; He laid down His life on the cross to deliver us from the guilt and condemnation of our sin. He was raised to life for our justification. Even now He prays for us at the Father’s right hand.

This hope of grace, forgiveness, salvation, and empowerment is truth that our children (and we ourselves) always need. As you correct and disciple, always hold the hope of the gospel before your children. We deny the gospel when we tell children they can be good in their own strength. The encouragement of Hebrews 2:17 is that Jesus who, as a man, suffered being tempted, can help us in our temptations.

5. What you model is powerful.

Deuteronomy 6:5 captures this truth: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.” Your love for God, your joy in Him, and your gratitude and satisfaction for all that God is to you in Christ are important truths for you to model for your children. The next verses capture how essential this modeling is: “These words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children” (Deut. 6:6–7).

Each day, as you live with your children, you are presenting a view of reality. You are showing them that you believe that God is good and the rewarder of those who seek Him. By loving God and others, you model the truth that the law of God is good. As you make a priority of worship, you tell them that life is found in God. When you are kind to people who are unkind, you show the magnanimity and kindness of God. Everything you do provides a narrative of truth for your children.

Your submission to God in all things, your honesty about the ways your heart is prone to wander, and your hope in the grace of the gospel all provide a narrative for your children. Raising children for God is some of the greatest work you will ever do. ¹

Are you making plans for your fall Sunday school curriculum? Or looking for a trusted resource to help your church pass down the Christian faith to the next generation?

For a limited time, save an additional 20% on Growing in God’s Word, a Bible curriculum from Ligonier to help churches, families, and schools teach children the story of Scripture with clarity and confidence.

With 52 lesson plans, this teacher’s resource equips you to guide the next generation confidently through the Word of God. Use code GROW20 at checkout to secure your savings.

Everything you need to teach with confidence:

• A Teacher’s Guide
• 52 Bible Lessons
• Suggested Prayers
• Learning Activities
• Optional Catechism Questions

Whether you’re preparing for a new school year, teaching Sunday school, or looking for a new homeschool curriculum, Growing in God’s Word helps you engage children with the Bible’s transformative story.

Choose the format that best fits your classroom:

• A printed edition for in-person teaching
• A digital edition for flexible access and team use
• Additional licenses to equip multiple teachers
• Baptist and Presbyterian & Reformed editions to fit your church’s needs

Use code GROW20 at checkout to save an additional 20%. Don’t delay—this sale ends Tuesday, June 30, at midnight ET.

Maybe you’ve had the experience of joining a conversation already underway and feeling lost. For you to understand what is going on, someone needs to catch you up. Or maybe you want to watch a ballgame on TV, but you turn it on halfway through. If so, you may wonder what the score is and how it came to be that way. We make sense of many things by the intuitive use of context. A punch in one context may be playful but in another context may start a fight. Context matters a great deal.

The same is true for our understanding of the kingdom of God. If we start with the New Testament as the foundation for what the kingdom means, we may find ourselves in the middle of a conversation that we don’t fully understand. In the first century, the people of God shared some expectations about what the kingdom means that were assumed by Jesus—even as He challenged some of those expectations. In other words, Jesus was not the first to introduce the concept of the kingdom. Scripture has much to say about the kingdom in the Old Testament. What Jesus says about the kingdom must be slotted into that context and understood in the light of those expectations. It will take us a bit more work to recover what those expectations were, but recovering them will go far in helping us understand the nature of the kingdom in the New Testament.

While the Old Testament does not speak about the kingdom with the same frequency as the New Testament, it would be wrong to conclude that the concept is foreign to the Old Testament. The kingdom of God permeates the Old Testament.

In my book The Kingdom of God and the Work of Christ, I explore in more detail the Old Testament background to the kingdom—which is substantial. Kingdom expectations start early in the Old Testament, but they really come into their own with David and his kingdom. David was the paradigmatic king of God’s kingdom in the Old Testament, and the Lord made a covenant with David that one of his sons would rule over the kingdom forever. Yet we also find great tragedy among God’s people in the Old Testament, with the kingship and the kingdom falling to the enemies of God’s people. Even so, God’s promises remained. It is in the light of such promises that we should understand the kingdom in the New Testament and Jesus’ identity as the messianic Son of David.

Foundations of the Kingdom

The Old Testament foundations of the kingdom of God are laid at the beginning in creation. Already God is portrayed as a great King whose power is apparent over creation. His resting on the seventh day of creation communicates that He has successfully completed His task of creation; He rests when His work of creation is completed.

The creation of humanity in God’s image also reflects the divine kingship of God. Man and woman are created in God’s image and commanded to rule over God’s creation (Gen. 1:26–28). This ruling over creation is part of what it means to be made in the image of God: Adam and Eve were to be royal image-bearers of the Great King and to spread His glory throughout the whole world.¹ The royal dignity of humanity, therefore, reflects God’s divine kingship. This is reiterated later in the Psalms when David, reflecting on the creation in Genesis 1–2, speaks of the crowning with glory and honor that is characteristic of humanity (Ps. 8:5). If humanity, made in the image of God, is crowned with glory and honor, we can be sure that this is but a reflection of the kingship of God.

With the fall of humanity into sin in Genesis 3, the kingdom of God as it was in the beginning, as it was to be ruled over by Adam, was marred. Sin brought disorder and disruption and pain. God never ceased to be King, but now there is a conflict that will play out throughout Scripture and world history. It is a kingdom conflict between the offspring of the woman and the offspring of the serpent. This is the context for understanding the great gospel promise of Genesis 3:15, which foretells a coming Redeemer. Speaking to the serpent, whom He was cursing, the Lord God said,

“I will put enmity between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and her offspring;
he shall bruise your head,
and you shall bruise his heel.”

This promised Seed of the woman refers to a coming child who would destroy the devil and his kingdom and recover what Adam lost in the beginning.

God is portrayed in Scripture as a great King (see Ps. 10: 16),² and those made in His image are also portrayed in royal terms. The same is true for Israel collectively. In the exodus from Egypt, Pharaoh is commanded to let Israel—the Lord’s firstborn son—go, or Pharaoh’s firstborn son would be killed (Ex. 4:22–23). This is a challenge of kingships. Pharaoh’s royal son would die if he would not let the royal son of the Lord go free. The story of the exodus is therefore the vindication of the true kingship of the Lord. This perspective continues in Deuteronomy, where the Lord is identified as a great King—or Father—who cares for His people. This is a significant emphasis of Deuteronomy (see 1:31; 8:5; 14:1–2; 32:4–6, 18–20). The people collectively were God’s son, which paved the way for one individual to lead the nation as God’s son.

Deuteronomy 17:14–17 specifically anticipates a future day when God’s people would be led by a king according to the instruction of the Lord:

When you come to the land that the Lord your God is giving you, and you possess it and dwell in it and then say, “I will set a king over me, like all the nations that are around me,” you may indeed set a king over you whom the Lord your God will choose. One from among your brothers you shall set as king over you. You may not put a foreigner over you, who is not your brother. Only he must not acquire many horses for himself or cause the people to return to Egypt in order to acquire many horses, since the Lord has said to you, “You shall never return that way again.” And he shall not acquire many wives for himself, lest his heart turn away, nor shall he acquire for himself excessive silver and gold.

In the future, the Lord would choose a king for God’s people who would rule them according to God’s word, not according to the customs of the nations. This king, as we will see, would be God’s Son and would rule over God’s son (that is, God’s people) collectively. This again reflects the divine royalty of God Himself, for the king of God’s people rules on behalf of God, the Great King. Instead of trusting in chariots or horses, this king over God’s people was to trust in the name of the Lord (see Ps. 20:7–9). He would lead the people in righteousness and protect God’s people from their enemies, allowing them to serve and worship the Lord in the promised land. In the days of Deuteronomy, the people had no earthly king, but this would change in the future.

The book of Judges further underscores why God’s people need a king. Judges recounts cycles of sin and rebellion and how the Lord raised up judges (or warlords) to save His people.³ Yet the deliverance through the judges did not last, and by the end of the book, sin had gotten grossly out of hand. Judges makes clear that the people went their own way because they did not have a king. For example, just before recounting great corruption in Israel, the book of Judges states, “In those days there was no king in Israel” (Judges 18:1). A similar refrain opens chapter 19, just before one of the great atrocities of the Old Testament. The book ends ominously: “In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes” (21:25).

The implication of Judges is that God’s people went astray in large measure because they had no king to rule over them in righteousness and provide safety from their enemies. The book of Judges therefore provides dramatic illustrations of why it is good and proper for God’s people to be ruled over by God’s king.

The Kingdom of David

In the days of the prophet Samuel, the people finally got their king. While it is true that Samuel rebuked the people for their reasons for wanting a king—to be like the other nations (1 Sam. 8:4–9)—the appropriateness of a king's ruling over God's people was already clear from books such as Deuteronomy and Judges. The first king was Saul, the son of Kish, who was an impressive physical specimen but had the fatal flaw of not trusting in the Lord. Therefore, the Lord rejected him as king, and David was anointed in his place.

David is the most important king in the Old Testament. He was a man after God's own heart ( 1 Sam. 13:14), and he was the paradigmatic king. Further, and crucial for understanding the kingdom in the New Testament, it was with David that the Lord made a covenant promising an everlasting kingdom. This is recounted in 2 Samuel 7. This divine promise is known as the Davidic covenant. In this covenant, the Lord promises to build David a house—that is, a dynastic kingdom—for his offspring (2 Sam. 7:11–12). The kingdom of David's offspring would not be temporary but would last forever (vv. 13, 16). The king would be God's son, ruling over God's people as God's chosen representative (v. 14). While David ruled on God's behalf with great success, David's greater Son would rule over God's people forever. The Davidic kingdom would never end. The coming of this Davidic offspring (v. 12) fulfills the Abrahamic promise of an offspring from Abraham (Gen. 15:4) and ultimately fulfills the promise that the offspring of the woman would bruise the head of the devil (3:15).

David plays a key role in establishing the kingdom of God in the Old Testament. But the Davidic covenant looks beyond David to an even greater Son who would rule forever. David was a great king who ruled God's people well and protected them from their enemies. But he was also a deeply flawed man, and his kingdom tottered in the latter years of his reign.

David's son Solomon rose to even greater heights than David. Could Solomon perhaps be the promised son who would reign forever? It may have looked that way at first. But Solomon was not the final son to reign forever. Like David, Solomon, as great as he was, turned away from the Lord toward the end of his life (1 Kings 11). The Davidic covenant looked for further fulfillment beyond Solomon. A greater Son of David—greater than Solomon—would one day come and rule forever. It is in such light that the New Testament presents Jesus as greater than David (Matt. 12:1–8) and greater than Solomon (v. 42).

The Failure of the Kingdom

While the kingdom of God is on display in the Davidic covenant and in the Psalms, the historical books of the Old Testament broadly are all about the successes and struggles of various stages of God's kingdom. In the words of theologian Herman Bavinck, "What Scripture describes in these books ... is the progress of the kingdom of God."⁴ This history in the remainder of the Old Testament is filled with ups and downs—many downs. After the heights of Solomon's glorious reign, the kingdom split under his son Rehoboam into the Southern Kingdom of Judah and the Northern Kingdom of Israel. The account of these events and the ensuing years is recorded in 1–2 Kings and 1–2 Chronicles. In the north, idolatry was established early on by Jeroboam, who built a rival place of worship to Jerusalem. We read of a succession of ungodly kings in the north, such as Ahab (and his wife, Jezebel). Ahab worshiped Baal, murdered Naboth, and stole his vineyard, and during his reign the prophets were killed (see 1 Kings 16–22). Such failures of ungodly kingship led to a failure of the kingdom, with the Northern Kingdom eventually falling to the Assyrians in 722 BC.

In the Southern Kingdom things were not quite as bad, but they were bad enough. Some kings, such as Hezekiah, carried David's mantle admirably (if imperfectly). But the overall trajectory even of the Southern Kingdom was not success but failure. The Southern Kingdom lasted longer, but it, too, fell to foreign enemies, succumbing to the Babylonians by 586 BC.

With the fall of the kingdom and kingship, the people languished. Many were taken into exile and forced into foreign lands. Idolatry ran rampant. The temple at Jerusalem was devastated. There was little peace for God's people. The lament of Psalm 137 reflects the despondency of God's people in the absence of their king:

By the waters of Babylon,
there we sat down and wept,
when we remembered Zion. (v. 1)

But the promise of the Davidic covenant was a guarantee that the kingdom would not be permanently cut off.

The Promise of a Restored Kingdom

Thankfully, the failure of the kingdom was not the final word. Even when it might have looked to the naked eye as if the kingdom of God had been shattered beyond repair, the promise of an everlasting king­dom from David's line was never in doubt—for God had promised. And God's promises are certain.

The Old Testament prophets often recalled this Davidic covenant in their prophecies of the future restoration of God's kingdom. This is prominent in Isaiah. Indeed, Isaiah 9:2–7, a familiar Christmas passage, is not just about a child to be born—as wonderful as that is—but about a royal child to be born, the coming Son of David.

The people dwelling in darkness are those suffering the failure of their king and the violent threat of surrounding kingdoms. These are God's people, who faced the lowest of lows in their forced exile when the kingdom seemed to have disappeared. But in the face of such gloom would come a child to fulfill the Davidic covenant. This child would reign forever; of the increase of His kingdom and of peace there will be no end. As great as David's rule was, he did not fulfill this prophecy. His dynasty had fallen, but in the future, One would come to restore the fallen dynasty of David (Amos 9:11–12).

These are but a small sampling of the Old Testament expectations of the final fulfillment of the Davidic covenant. We will consider more Old Testament passages in the chapters that follow. These prophecies of a coming king remained unfulfilled in the Old Testament. But they come into spectacular view in the New Testament. It is to this story of the kingdom in the New Testament that we now turn our attention.

Ligonier Ministries has entered a joyful partnership with Joni and Friends as part of our Study Bibles for the World campaign.

Many of you are likely familiar with Joni Eareckson Tada. She has been a longtime friend of Dr. R.C. Sproul and Ligonier Ministries, and she has given her testimony at our national conference in years past. The organization she founded, Joni and Friends, works to bring practical assistance and gospel hope to people with disabilities and their families around the world.

Now, through Ligonier’s Study Bibles for the World campaign, we have the opportunity to bring the Reformation Study Bible to pastors who are ministering to people with disabilities and their families.

Watch this brief video as president of Joni and Friends, Shawn Thornton, and I discuss this new avenue to equip the global church—all made possible through the support of friends like you.

In many parts of the world where living conditions are challenging and false teaching is rampant, few pastors are well equipped to preach a biblical theology of suffering. For Christians struggling with disabilities, this can be devastating.

Now we have the opportunity to send a one-volume theological library through Joni and Friends’ extensive distribution networks to equip pastors on the front lines of the Great Commission.

1 John 3:17–18 conveys the importance of rendering assistance as a show of our Christian unity and our love for one another in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. We’re honored by this opportunity to support the pastors and leaders who are ministering to our suffering brothers and sisters around the world.

Will you pray for this new partnership with Joni and Friends as we seek to serve God’s people in more places? Thank you for your support of Ligonier as we seek to strengthen the global church together.

Time is running out to save on your registration for our 2026 London Conference, Chosen by God. The early-bird rate ends Saturday, May 16, so don’t delay. Register now and save 40% on the regular rate.

Join us on September 25–26 as we explore how the doctrine of election reveals the riches of God’s mercy, the certainty of His purposes, and the ultimate hope of eternal fellowship with Him.

CONFERENCE SESSIONS:

• Before the Foundation of the World
• The Potter and the Clay
• Chosen for Holiness
• Christ, the Chosen Cornerstone
• The Golden Chain of Redemption
• God’s Purpose in Election
• A Chosen Race, a Royal Priesthood
• Panel Discussion
• Two Q&A Sessions

We’ll also host a pastors’ pre-conference event, Shepherding and the Sovereignty of God, on September 25, 2026. This additional event is designed to help pastors reflect on their calling as shepherds of God’s flock serving under the ultimate authority of Christ, the Chief Shepherd. Learn more.

PRE-CONFERENCE SESSIONS:

• The Chief Shepherd’s Reign
• Strength in Weakness
• Preaching Christ with Conviction
• The Steadfast Pastor
• Q&A Session

We hope you will join us for this time of mutual edification and fellowship as we reflect on the glorious reality of God’s electing grace.

Register today to save before the early-bird rate ends on Saturday at midnight ET.

God calls His people to pass down the Christian faith to the next generation. As we teach the Bible to our children, we invite them into the captivating story of redemption.

Now available in a digital edition, Growing in God’s Word is designed to assist you in this calling. With 52 lesson plans, this teacher’s resource helps churches, families, and schools lead elementary students through an overview of the Bible.

Flexible Options for Your Classroom

Whether you need the complete K–5 set or just one learning level, the digital edition of Growing in God’s Word is flexible to fit the needs of your classroom.

• Purchase the complete K–5 set or individual learning levels
• Choose the Presbyterian & Reformed Edition or the Baptist Edition
• Add additional digital licenses to share with teachers, volunteers, or families

Your Digital Curriculum Includes:

• A Teacher’s Guide
• 52 Bible Lessons
• Suggested Prayers
• Learning Activities
• Optional Catechism Questions
• 5 Digital Licenses—Print One Copy or Share with Others

Order your digital copy today.

More Digital Supplementary Materials

Find more free downloadable resources on GrowingInGodsWord.org to adapt for your classroom and enhance your lesson preparation. These free materials include:

• An adaptation guide showing how to use the curriculum in different settings
• Coloring sheets for each lesson that you can print and share with your students
• Lesson summaries with the main idea and passage taught in every lesson
• Scope and sequence listing all lesson subjects, verses, and catechism Q&As
• Activity material list with recommended classroom items for every lesson

Purchase a digital copy of Growing in God’s Word today and engage children with the Bible’s transformative story.

When you think about tomorrow, are you anxious or hopeful?

If you’re like me, thoughts about the future can crowd in quickly. But the answer we give is often shaped by the voices we’re listening to each day.

To help you devote your attention to the voice of God in His Word, we’ll send you a special resource bundle to thank you for your donation this month. You will receive a thinline Bible and a one-year subscription to Tabletalk magazine to encourage you to meditate day and night on God’s Word (Ps. 1:2).

Our minds are always being shaped. The question is not whether we are being formed, but who is forming us.

• Are we being discipled by the Lord and shaped into Christ’s likeness?
• Or are our minds being shaped by the spirit of the age?

The world, the flesh, and the devil are eager to have our attention. Amid the confusion, instability, and moral disorder, prognosticators are making endless predictions about what the future holds. Some voices guarantee earthly paradise; others warn of total annihilation. All of them make promises that cannot save.

Dr. R.C. Sproul reminded us that “living as Christians means that we do not live by the drumbeat of this world but by a higher calling—the calling of God.” This calling requires that we seek minds renewed in God’s Word. We must fix our eyes on the Lord as we seek to bring His gospel to a dark world and as we strive to shape the next generation with His truth.

This is the task of discipleship that drives the global teaching outreach of Ligonier Ministries, and this is the mission you can further through your financial support.

We become like what we behold. Ligonier is a ministry driven by the call of Isaiah 40:9: “Behold your God!” While everything in the world fades like grass, Ligonier encourages Christians with the truth that God’s Word stands forever (v. 8). He is our refuge amid the tsunami of change, and His promises never fail. Christ has conquered the world to redeem His people, securing a glorious future for us and calling each of us to be a “herald of good news” (v. 9).

This teaching fellowship exists to help Christians fix their focus on our holy God and be formed by His Word so they can face the future with unwavering hope. Ligonier’s Bible teaching is not just about sharing information. We strive to help Christians cultivate minds informed by Scripture, hearts devoted to loving God, and wills committed to serving Him faithfully.

By God’s grace, your support is helping to nurture this Christian formation around the world by supplying Tabletalk and other vital Bible study resources. Recently, Jerry wrote to us from Ontario:

“I’ve been reading Tabletalk magazine for a number of years and have greatly benefited from the teachings of R.C. Sproul. Knowing that the world seems to be teetering ever further into confusion and unbelief, I simply wanted to play a small part in ensuring that future generations have access to both Tabletalk and Dr. Sproul’s teaching.”

This vital service to God’s people is only possible because of the ongoing support of friends like you. Not only do you gain from Ligonier’s teaching yourself, but you also stand with us to declare who God is so more people may know Him and find refuge in His grace.

Together, let’s redouble our efforts to help more people behold our God, that they may hope in His “precious and very great promises” in the gospel (2 Peter 1:4). Your additional support can help provide a formative influence for the future of the church. Please give today to help:

• Shape the next generation through new short outreach videos, providing a clear, biblical voice on digital platforms where young people are already being shaped.
• Supply trusted answers to the global church by developing substantial theological libraries in the top 20 languages.
• Accelerate the translation of reliable teaching, such as the new Spanish edition of Dr. Sproul’s expositional commentary on Romans.

Out of appreciation for your donation this month, we’ll give you a twelve-month subscription to Tabletalk magazine so you too can benefit from this daily companion to your study of God’s Word. You’ll also receive a thinline ESV Bible. It’s the perfect size to keep as a reference while you delve into Tabletalk’s articles, reflect on God’s Word with its in-depth daily devotions, and follow the yearlong Bible reading plan.

Thank you for standing with Ligonier so more people can behold the Lord in all His glory and find stability in a changing world as they trust His sure promises for the future.

The Reformation Study Bible is carefully crafted to offer an unparalleled reading, study, and discipleship experience for every age and stage of the Christian life. This week only, save 50% on a variety of editions and cover styles of this trusted resource.

Reformation Study Bible Edited by Dr. R.C. Sproul, this study Bible is packed with verse-by-verse notes, theological articles, and much more to help readers understand Scripture as a whole.

Condensed Edition Looking for a more portable version? The Condensed Edition features the best of this commentary in a smaller format.

Student Edition The Student Edition is designed to help young Christians dig deeper into the Scriptures to find answers and direction for all of life.

Spanish Edition The Spanish Edition of the Reformation Study Bible offers a carefully translated verse-by-verse commentary as well as topical explanations that emphasize the need for God’s grace.

With Mother’s Day and school graduations around the corner, explore the collection and save on a gift that can help your loved ones grow in God’s Word for many years to come.

Shop before the sale ends on May 2 at 11:59 p.m. ET. While supplies last.

You can now freely stream all the messages from our 2026 National Conference online, in the Ligonier app, and on our YouTube channel. Watch your favorite moments again and share this Bible teaching with your friends and family.

CONFERENCE SESSIONS:

• What Is Truth? by Derek Thomas
• Does God Control Everything? by H.B. Charles Jr.
• What Is My Purpose? by Ken Jones
• How Should I Endure Suffering? by Sinclair Ferguson
• How Can I Know God’s Will? by David Strain
• How Can I Overcome Anxiety? by Eric Bancroft
• Does Prayer Change Things? by W. Robert Godfrey
• Can I Be Sure I’m Saved? by Derek Thomas
• Who Is God? by Joel Kim
• What Is My Identity? by Michael Reeves
• Why Do Bad Things Happen to Good People? by David Garner
• How Do I Grow in Holiness? by Sinclair Ferguson

Q&A SESSIONS:

• Questions & Answers with Bancroft, Charles, Godfrey, and Jones
• Questions & Answers with Garner, Reeves, Strain, and Thomas
• Questions & Answers with Ferguson, Godfrey, Kim, and Thomas

SEMINARS:

• Lights in a Dark World with Eric Bancroft and H.B. Charles Jr.
• Training Leaders in the Church with Sinclair Ferguson, David Garner, and Joel Kim

Register today and save for our 2027 National Conference, The Glorious Attributes of God.

The messages from our 2026 National Conference are now available to watch and share on Ligonier.org and in the Ligonier app.

Conference Sessions:

• What Is Truth? by Derek Thomas
• Does God Control Everything? by H.B. Charles Jr.
• What Is My Purpose? by Ken Jones
• How Should I Endure Suffering? by Sinclair Ferguson
• How Can I Know God’s Will? by David Strain
• How Can I Overcome Anxiety? by Eric Bancroft
• Does Prayer Change Things? by W. Robert Godfrey
• Can I Be Sure I’m Saved? by Derek Thomas
• Who Is God? by Joel Kim
• What Is My Identity? by Michael Reeves
• Why Do Bad Things Happen to Good People? by David Garner
• How Do I Grow in Holiness? by Sinclair Ferguson

Q&A Sessions:

• Questions & Answers with Bancroft, Charles, Godfrey, and Jones
• Questions & Answers with Garner, Reeves, Strain, and Thomas
• Questions & Answers with Ferguson, Godfrey, Kim, and Thomas

Seminars:

• Lights In a Dark World with Eric Bancroft and H.B. Charles Jr.
• Training Leaders in the Church with Sinclair Ferguson, David Garner, and Joel Kim

Register today before April 25 to get 45% off for our 2027 National Conference, The Glorious Attributes of God.

Who is like the Lord our God?

Out of His infinite fullness and perfection, He gives us life. To enjoy Him in endless wonder is the crowning gift of our salvation. Therefore, we have no higher calling than to know who God is. Understanding His character clarifies the purpose of our life in this world and the glory that awaits us in Christ.

Join us next year in Orlando for Ligonier’s 2027 National Conference, The Glorious Attributes of God.

When you register today, you’ll secure your spot for $219 and save 45% with the pre-registration rate. Don’t delay—this special rate is only available until Saturday, April 25.

Other Discounted Registration Rates:

• Full-time students: $89
• Youth (4–17): $18
• Children (0–3): FREE

This conference invites you to marvel at God’s holy character. Gather with Christians from around the world to hear biblical teaching on His divine attributes, sing His praises, and draw strength from His promises.

Conference Sessions in 2027 Include:

• The Power of God
• The Love of God
• The Beauty of God
• The Faithfulness of God
• The Goodness of God
• The Justice, Mercy, and Grace of God
• The Sovereignty of God
• The Wisdom of God
• The Holiness of God

Next year’s event also includes a variety of breakout seminars. Join our conference speakers in exploring how understanding the character of God equips us to serve Him faithfully and pursue His glory in every sphere of life.

Seminars Include:

• Marriage Shaped by God’s Character
• Serving God Faithfully in the Workplace
• Walking with God Through Suffering
• Raising Children in the Knowledge of God
• Cultivating Prayer and Dependence on God
• Discernment in a Digital Age

This conference will be held on April 1–3, 2027, at the Rosen Shingle Creek Hotel in Orlando. Lodging is available for you directly at the venue. Mention Ligonier Ministries when you make your reservation.

Never Experienced the Conference Before?

Watch messages from our 2026 National Conference in the free Ligonier app or online. Additionally, you can still browse the online bookstore for special discounts on trusted biblical resources while supplies last.

My other favorite Reformer, partly because I love his name, is Johannes Oecolampadius. His name literally means “house lamp,” but he was a brilliant language scholar. He wrote a Hebrew grammar. He wrote a commentary on Isaiah that became the model for Luther, for Calvin, and for all the Old Testament work of a whole century of scholars. Every time we pick up our English Bible, we know that a boatload of scholars made that possible. Some of them gave their blood for us to have an English Bible. Oecolampadius was one of those guys. He died young, but he filled his life as much as he could. And what a great name!

This text doesn’t literally mean we should never do anything other than pray. It’s clear the Scriptures call us to all sorts of other things. But prayer should be a regular, recurring part of our whole experience, such that there are not only, perhaps, set times of prayer for us but that we turn to the Lord throughout the day. We don’t have to pray at great length all the time, and I think that’s part of the reminder here. This text calls us to cultivate a sense of the presence of God with us, along with us turning our hearts, minds, and cares to Him regularly throughout the day.

It’s an encouragement to think of ourselves as a prayer-filled people. That’s the call, and it’s a valuable call for us to hear.

To know who you are already in Christ is invaluable. You belong to Him. Any persecution you experience, any demeaning you experience, yes, it will be sore, but you can look up to Him and say: “Lord, I belong to You, I’m Yours, and I know this is about You. You will help me cope with it.”

The other thing I would say is really get to know your Bible. Psalm 119 was written for people your age. That’s why it says, “How can a young man keep his way pure?” (Ps. 119:9). Psalm 119 teaches us that if we hide God’s Word in our hearts, it will not only protect us from sinning, but it will make us wiser even than our teachers. That doesn’t mean you’ll know more than a rocket scientist, but it does mean that you have the clues to the meaning of life and that you learn in Scripture first principles that will enable you to negotiate your way through life. That is such a tremendously stabilizing force.

I would also advise that you really seek to understand Christian doctrine. Understanding Christian doctrine gives you a framework of reference, and most of your peers have no idea of their framework of reference. They don’t have any roots. They don’t have any first principles of which they are conscious. They are awash. They’re blown around, as Paul says, by any teaching that comes along. There is “cool” teaching that you’ll come across—for example, it’s cool to be an atheist today just like it was cool to smoke fifty years ago. But just like it was cool to smoke fifty years ago, being an atheist is going to kill you.

There is a tremendous strength in the Christian gospel, and one of the things our conference time does for youngsters is give them a sense that the gospel has its own intellectual power, and we don’t need to be ashamed of it.

There are people in the visible church—that is, they attend church and may even be members of the church—but they are not members of the invisible church. They may even make a profession of faith, but we don’t know the heart. We can’t see into the heart. In some denominations, in order to be a member, you have to have a credible profession of faith. They are looking for evidences, but even then they don’t know if someone is genuinely saved.

To sum it up, false converts are not converts who then become not converts. They were never converts. This is not something that’s new for us; it’s there in the epistles of John and in the New Testament church.

I started reading the Bible when I was nine. I had read John 5:39–40 before, but I was fourteen when it hit me. That verse applied to me in this way: I thought being a Christian meant reading the Bible, saying prayers, helping old ladies cross the street, and doing good things, but that verse hit me like a hammer. I thought: “This is exactly where I am. I’ve been searching the Scriptures and reading them diligently. In five years, I’ve probably missed only five days of reading the Bible.” It really came to me with great power and awakened me. It didn’t convert me; it awakened me. A number of months afterward, I was brought to a living faith through John 8:12: “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

Those are reasons why I love John’s gospel from my mid-teens, but there are many other reasons. One of them is simply because of the sheer wonder of the portrayal of Christ in it. There are also sections of it that I particularly love. Ever since I was a teenager, I’ve loved John 13–17 particularly, but there is no part of it I don’t love. Every time I read it or preach on it, I think, “This is absolutely endless.” The early fathers used to say that John’s gospel was like a sea that an elephant could swim in and in which a lamb could bathe—it’s just so rich for all believers. So, I think my favorite book of the Bible is John’s gospel.

I remember when I was converted as a high school student and first found myself worshiping amongst the Dutch Reformed, we always prayed the Lord’s Prayer, “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.” We can debate the translation, and it can go either way, but I think our Lord is reminding us that He withstood temptation for us and overcame the evil one. We pray that He will continue to preserve us so we don’t face temptation as He faced it and that we would be delivered from the evil one to live for Christ. I think that’s at least part of what’s going on in the Lord’s Prayer.

REEDER: I love the translation, “Do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.” I actually think it’s a better translation because that’s exactly where this is aiming: we are reminded of Christ having endured temptation for us, and therefore, we are delivered through His faithfulness in all of life under the assault of the evil one.

On the other hand, the notion of testing itself is not evil. On the contrary, God uses testing. Further, God can sovereignly take that which the world, the flesh, and the devil would use to ensnare us, and the Lord can use it instead to disciple us and develop us. But we are to flee temptation. I’ll make two comments.

First, Christians make a big mistake in this area by saying that we resist temptation and flee Satan. I think the Bible would have us do the opposite. The Bible does not want us to flee Satan; the Bible wants us to resist Satan, and he will flee from us. But that which is designed to ensnare us into sin, we are to flee that temptation and pursue the environment of holiness and the means of grace that build us up.

Second, having said that, when God brings tests, they are not designed to ensnare us. Rather, they are designed to edify us. A test from the divine hand does three things. It’s kind of like my algebra teacher in the eighth grade. I was convinced she gave me tests to flunk me. I have always told people: “You never have to worry about prayer in school. As long as you’ve got algebra tests, you’ll have prayer in school, I can promise you.” But a test in the hand of the Almighty is there to show us what we know, to show us what we don’t know, and to show us what we need to know. That is from the hand of the Lord. But we flee that which is designed by the world, the flesh, and the devil to bring us down.

PARSONS: I think it is confusing for everyone when we hear that translation. Part of the issue with the way it’s translated into English and the way we understand that portion of the Lord’s Prayer is that it’s a bit of a Hebraism. It’s a way of speaking. It’s a manner of getting a point across to say: “When we are tempted, Lord, lead us away from it. Get us out of it. Help us to flee it.” I know that sounds like the opposite of what it is saying, but that is the way the Hebrews thought and spoke. We see Hebraisms throughout the Gospels, and I think that’s what it’s getting at.

The second thing I would say is that many Christians have been taught to have prejudices against the Reformed faith, but often they don’t know what it is. However, if they are really the Lord’s people, there is one person they are not supposed to have a prejudice against, and that is the Lord Jesus. So, immerse yourself in the teaching of Jesus.

Our late friend, James Montgomery Boice, once preached a sermon on the radio, which I think was called “Was Jesus a Calvinist?” He got more bad press for that sermon than for anything else, but that is actually quite a good question because we can get prejudices about “isms,” but if we are the Lord’s people, we love the Lord Jesus. We know even at the instinctive and emotional level that if He taught it, we should listen, and if He believed it, we need to learn to believe it.

So, a great tool for us in keeping friendships and helping our friends is our own study of the way in which Jesus Himself taught about the grace of God, the depravity of man, the nature of the atonement, and the sovereignty of God. It’s all in the Gospels. I think that will enable you to maintain friendships, or if you lose them, they will be lost because alas, people won’t listen to Christ Himself. That is very sore, but I think it does mean that you have not been the offensive one. That’s one thing that I’ve found helpful.

The Spirit primarily does two things in us, and if you understand these two things, you’ll understand how the Spirit helps us pray. First, the Spirit illumines us. He opens our eyes to see who God is truly, and we then find our minds turned. We have a complete misunderstanding of what God is like, and then the Spirit opens our eyes, and it’s a mighty aha moment that carries on as we carry on being educated by the Spirit. So, the Spirit renews our minds as we think: “Oh, that is what God is like. I did not think God was like that.”

Second, by renewing our minds, the Spirit transforms our hearts. He takes away a heart of stone to give us a heart of flesh. That is an initial work that He does, but it’s also an ongoing work. The Spirit gives us a new mind and a new heart, but He also ongoingly educates us and affects us. In regard to prayer, that means that as the Spirit works in me, my mind is enabled to know what to pray for.

As a young Christian, I naturally tended to have a prayer life like a shopping list of blessings for me, my family, and my friends, and it was pretty self-centered. And then I’d remember that I ought to do some less self-centered prayers. But as the Spirit works in me and transforms my mind, and I see reality differently, as I start seeing the centrality of God and not me, then my prayers start following that change. My prayers start becoming more God-centered and less me-centered. That’s the Spirit’s re-education work.

Further, through the Spirit’s re-education work, He is also transforming my affections and desires. It’s not merely as the Spirit works in me that I know, “Yes, I really ought to be more God-centered and less self-centered.” Rather, the Spirit is doing a deeper work. He’s actually making me want to be and enjoy being God-centered so this just becomes natural to me. I’m not trying to work at it. It just comes out of who the Spirit is making me to be. Therefore, I begin to desire to pray God-centered, God-loving, and God-adoring prayers.

The Spirit educates and affects me such that I begin to desire to pray, to desire long communion with God in a way that I did not think about before. Initially, prayer was just one of those things that I ought to do every now and again. But the Spirit’s work runs so deep that I begin to enjoy communion with God.

So, it’s those two things that the Spirit does. He educates me, transforming my mind, and He transforms my affections so that I enjoy prayer and begin to pray more intelligently and more Christian prayers.

The basic principle is to make sure that you have space in your day, then space in your week, and then space in your month set aside for reading. I remember the late John Stott saying that he tried to read one hour a day, a morning a week, a day a month, and a week a year. If you keep that up, or some such program, even though it seems slow, you will eventually get through a lot of books over a longer period of time.

This is not a matter of setting a pattern or a standard for everyone. Some of us read very quickly, and some of us read more slowly. Some books should be read quickly. Others should be read slowly. I think the thing that helps is breaking the back of our sloth and indifference and saying, “Even if I have to start small, I will do it.” And if you keep going, it’s amazing how much you can get through.

I would also recommend paying attention to the style. If you read something and think, “That is really good,” then don’t just go on to the next thing. Look back and ask yourself: “Why is this really good? How is this person doing this?” Then, see if you can build some of these principles into your own use of language. I think we often forget that we use language in ministry, and the better we can use it, the better it will be. In a sense, the better our language is, the better we will be able to glorify God with words—not just cheap, easy words and slang but words that exalt God and lift the spirits of those who listen to us.

In the ministry of Christ and the seventy, when they came back from their mission, Jesus said, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven” (Luke 10:18). An aspect of Satan’s control over the world was affected by the ministry of Christ, His death and resurrection, and the day of Pentecost, which suggests that now the gospel is to be preached in all the world.

That being said, Satan is still referred to as the “prince of the power of the air” (Eph. 2:2). He still has power. He does not have as much power as he did under the old covenant, but he is still to be reckoned with: “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places” (Eph. 6:12). In his Screwtape Letters, C.S. Lewis said something along the lines that you can make too much of the devil, but you can also make too little of him. He hasn’t yet been cast into the bottomless pit that the book of Revelation speaks of in Revelation 20. So, he is very much to be reckoned with, even in the new covenant.

GODFREY: I certainly agree, but we have to be very clear: Jesus is King of kings and Lord of lords now. I think Lewis is exactly right: we can’t make too much or too little of Satan. On the “too much” side, sometimes we talk about Satan almost as if he were a minor god. He is a finite creature, which means he can’t be everywhere at once. He can’t be the Holy Spirit, so he has minions who serve him.

Sometimes we talk as if there is the Holy God and then there is the evil god, Satan. Satan is not God. He’s a finite creature. He’s limited by his finitude as well as by God’s sovereignty. He is a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour, but he is chump change compared to the sovereign God. He has been defeated, and he will be destroyed. Our calling is not to let him destroy us before he is destroyed.

FERGUSON: We all try to answer questions by saying the same thing in different ways, and there are two things I’ve found helpful in this context.

The first is what Bob has alluded to in Matthew 28:18–20. Jesus is saying in Matthew 28:18–20 that as the second man and the last Adam, He has won back the dominion on earth that Adam lost. Adam lost his dominion. He fell to the tempter. Christ has overcome the tempter so that He now says, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.” We might instinctively think, “He’s the Son of God—of course all authority in heaven and on earth is His.” But Jesus is speaking in a particular context, saying that the dominion Satan won in the garden of Eden has been overthrown, and that authority is now His.

The second is to pick up what Derek said: the limiting context of the expression regarding the binding of Satan is that he would no longer deceive the nations. It isn’t just a general statement, “Satan is bound,” but that Satan is bound in this particular respect: until the resurrection of Christ, the sending of the Holy Spirit, and the coming of the last days, Satan was deceiving all the nations except the one nation God was undeceiving in His mercy. On the day of Pentecost, the crowd that gathered was analogous to the crowd that gathered to build the Tower of Babel in an attempt to pull God down. God judged the nations at Babel and committed them to the deception of Satan. But from the day of Pentecost onwards, the nations are being undeceived by the preaching of the gospel. That is symbolized by the gatherings of the people at Pentecost and has now been experienced for two thousand years.

This is just another way of saying that we always need to look at the context in which phrases are used. We don’t just see a phrase and then make up ourselves what it means. In specific ways, the Scriptures help us to see these statements within a particular grid and context. So, when the Scriptures say that Satan is the god of this age, we realize that those who are not Christians are living in this age. However, the end of the ages has dawned on believers, and the preaching of the gospel continues to invade this age to bring people into the new age, which will continue until the Lord comes. And then, whatever your eschatology, comes the end.

I was seventeen in 1965, a first-year student at university, and I encountered the first reprints of John Owen’s works. They were big—six hundred pages per volume, and there were twenty-four volumes. I was able to buy them for fifteen shillings a volume, which is about eighty cents or something like that. When you are Scottish and young and you can get six hundred pages for under a dollar, you buy it. Of course, I’m being humorous. But when I started to read him, I realized this was a different order of teaching altogether. Owen’s works were so theologically rich and spiritually profound that they made some of the other things I was reading seem very superficial. So, that was how I started reading John Owen, and I have kept reading him ever since.

If somebody asked me, “Which theologian taught you to think?” I would say John Calvin because I bought his Institutes when I was a teenager as well.

BINGHAM: Was it expensive or cheap?

FERGUSON: I got them cheap. However, they were more per volume than John Owen. I probably got my first set of Calvin’s Institutes for about $4.50. But Owen helped me to apply theology and to see the way biblical theology flows out into the experience of the church and the Christian life.

Some of Owen’s books in particular helped me, and the one I have treasured most is his book Communion with God, which focuses on communion with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. There are also helpful volumes in his complete works. He talks about Christ in volume one, sin in volume six, and justification in volumes four and five. There are twenty-four volumes. I go back to reading him and sometimes think, “Why do I bother reading anybody else?” It is so rich. He is not an easy read, but it’s worth persevering.

The world takes confidence in all sorts of things. It takes confidence in its own accomplishments. It takes confidence in the various ways it avoids having to think about reality. It’s sometimes prideful. Sometimes it’s just indifferent. Christian confidence, on the other hand, is attuned to the Word of God, the promises of God, and the assurance of what God has said.

Recently, I was talking to some friends about a dear saint in our church who is on her deathbed. They reported that she is full of confidence that Jesus has eternal life for her and that death is not the end. It is critical that we have confidence like hers as we face the struggles, difficulties, and from our limited perspective, uncertainties of life. We can have confidence that God’s promises that will prove true.

Machen was a brilliant scholar. He had a bachelor’s from Johns Hopkins, was Princeton-trained, and then became a Princeton professor. Machen lived during the time of modernism in American culture, as the twentieth century was a time of optimism and growth. Of course, it had World War I, but that influenced Europe far more than it did America because it took place on European soil. France lost 2 million people in World War I, while America lost 170,000 soldiers, which is terrible, but the differences are known. But it was still a time of modernism, and Machen lived during the “Roaring Twenties,” as we call it. It was a culture that was ready to move away from God. That’s modernism: “We don’t need God anymore. We built skyscrapers, and He is holding us back.”

Much of the church didn’t want culture to keep moving past them, so they said: “Hold on, you don’t have to leave just yet. We’ll make our doctrines a little more palatable. If you don’t like sinful man, let’s say that humanity is basically good. If you don’t like the idea that Christ had to die and you must have a substitute, let’s turn Christ’s death into just an example that you are empowered to follow every day. Isn’t that beautiful?” That’s liberalism. It compromised the doctrines that actually define Christianity in order to stay at the “cool table” of culture.

Along came Machen, and he wrote a book, Christianity and Liberalism. He essentially said: “This is not Christianity. This is a Christianity without a cross, which is not Christianity. Christianity without the message of sin is not Christianity. Christianity without an authoritative Bible standing over us that we are accountable to is not Christianity. If you don’t have those things, you don’t have Christianity. You are American. You are free to believe whatever you want to believe. We love liberty, but you can’t believe something that’s the total opposite of Christianity and call it Christianity.” Machen took a bold stand.

I mention all of this because I think it’s true of the story of American Christianity, which is a tale of two cities. We love our culture in America. Sometimes, we want to be a part of it so much so that we’ll compromise our convictions. It has happened. We all saw it. It’s happening right now. Whole denominations are selling their birthright to keep up with culture. That’s one city. Or, we can be a church of conviction that says, “No, we are going to follow God’s Word.” Machen is a good example of being a Christian of conviction.

So, that is one incident I find interesting and informative.

Later on, I used a different pattern and then I started using the kind of “Through the Bible in a Year” type pattern and there are various forms of that. I have used one that was written by Robert Murray M’Cheyne, Scottish minister in the nineteenth century that is very well known. You read four chapters a day from Old Testament, New Testament. You get through the Old Testament once and the New Testament twice in the year. And so, getting through the whole Bible each year I think is a helpful practice.

I’ve also, in addition to that, focused from time to time on certain books and given them more concentrated study. The material I actually recommend, I think I find myself recommending most, is actually Tabletalk, Nathan, for two reasons. One is because it does give you that help of a disciplined program of Bible reading. It gives you help in the notes that help you to expound and understand and apply the text, and there are also some great articles that go along with it. And it’s a terrific bargain. So, product placement is Tabletalk.

I know people who have used the same pattern all their lives. I have tended to vary the patterns I’ve used just because knowing the way I’m wired, that’s what I’ve found most helpful. And then, I have surrounded that with various things. You know sometimes I’ll have used some kind of prayer book just to help me, you know, to get the engine started. Sometimes I would sing.

Last year I did something I had never done before. I’m a speed reader and I felt I was speed reading instead of meditating, and so I started chanting the Psalms to myself, now not quite in the old Anglican way, but what I found in the English Standard Version was I could slow myself down by chanting out loud. And one of the things, I think, both my wife and myself have found is that speaking the Bible out loud is a very good help to Bible study because it was actually written to be heard and not just to be read.

So, those are some of the things that I have found helpful.

For those who want to pretend that God doesn’t exist and want to act as if He doesn’t and claim that He doesn’t, I still say to begin with Him. At the end of the day, people are not converted by the way in which we evangelize but rather by God who works in their hearts. So, objectively, begin with God. Begin with His standard, His character, who He is, and what He demands.

At the same time, I would also say that it depends on the conversation. I am engaged in conversations with non-Christians all the time, whether at restaurants, where I am in the community, at the gym, and so on, and it’s fascinating to me: people are incurably religious. They are religious at the very core of their being. Even people who don’t go to church, who are not a part of any organized religion, are religious. We see it every Sunday: clubs, communities, people coming together, being spiritual, being people of faith, whatever they are. So, start wherever they are. In one sense, you can meet people where they are. If they’re thinking about their children, if they’re thinking about their situation, if they’re worried about things, if they have guilt, if they feel the pressures and the anxieties of life, start there.

I would also say this: engage in conversations with them as human beings in a genuine and authentic way because you actually care about them. Yes, you want to communicate and proclaim the gospel to them—but communicate with them because you care about them.

That’s one of the things we see Jesus doing in His ministry. We see the Apostles doing that in their ministries. They have a love for people and a care for human beings. It’s true that their love for God and their desire to glorify God exceeds all of that, but they actually do care about people. They engage with people because they care about them. They care about their souls.

We evangelize not so that we can tell our Christian friends that we have evangelized; we evangelize for the glory of God and for the sake of the souls of those to whom we speak.