In Foundations: An Overview of Systematic Theology , R.C. Sproul shows that the truths of Scripture relate to each other in perfect harmony. This eye-opening series addresses a myriad of questions about the origin and authority of the Bible, God, the Trinity, man, sin, salvation, revelation, miracles, the church, the end times, and more.

In Foundations: An Overview of Systematic Theology, Dr. R.C. Sproul shows that the truths of Scripture relate to each other in perfect harmony. This eye-opening series addresses a myriad of questions about the origin and authority of the Bible, God, the Trinity, man, sin, salvation, revelation, miracles, the church, the end times, and more.

In Foundations: An Overview of Systematic Theology, Dr. R.C. Sproul shows that the truths of Scripture relate to each other in perfect harmony. This eye-opening series addresses a myriad of questions about the origin and authority of the Bible, God, the Trinity, man, sin, salvation, revelation, miracles, the church, the end times, and more.

Sometimes it can seem that Christians are standing on unsteady ground. While the world seeks to dismantle the foundations of our faith, compromise threatens the church from within. In times of turmoil, Scripture reminds us where our true security lies: in our sovereign God, whose throne can never be moved. On May 13–14, 2022, Ligonier Ministries hosted a conference in Escondido, CA. W. Robert Godfrey, Christopher Gordon, Burk Parsons, and Derek Thomas studied Psalm 11 and encouraged us to stand firm in unsteady times, taking refuge in the Lord as the indestructible foundation of our hope.

tangible outworkings of the communion of saints. They do not exist outside the church. They do not exist in competition with the church. They are simply expressions of a pattern of ministry that has, since the first century, existed in the church.

Conclusion

Parachurch ministries should not confuse themselves and their mission with the distinctive calling of the local church. It is within the context of the local church, not the parachurch, that Christians gather regularly to hear the preaching of the Word of God and to partake of the sacraments. Parachurch ministries must also beware of watering down the distinctive confessions of the local churches represented by those involved in the ministry. Parachurch ministries are not identical to the local church, and when they behave as if they are, they require criticism and correction. However, when those who call upon the name of the Lord Jesus, even if they are in different evangelical denominations, see a way to meet a legitimate need that the local church cannot meet because the need is too big or that the local church is not meeting for some other reason, the local church has no reason to hinder such Christians in their attempts to gather their resources, pool their talents, and use their gifts for the furtherance of the kingdom and the glory of God.

of man. We are not to love both cities, but for the sake of the Creator, we are to love those whom He has created — the citizens of the kingdom of man.

Scripture tells us how to maintain a proper perspective here. In Matthew 22:35–40, a lawyer came to Jesus and asked him, “Teacher what is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” A proper understanding of how we are to relate to the city of man even as we find our ultimate citizenship in the city of God is to be found within this very text, and in these two commands — love of God and love of neighbor.

Love of God and love of neighbor are tied inseparably together. Love of God leads us to love of our neighbors, and a proper love of our neighbors is one that is rooted in genuine love of God. If that is so, then our motivation for political engagement and cultural concern is first of all love of God, and second, love of neighbor.

Loving our neighbors for the sake of our love for God is the most profound political philosophy one could possibly find, and it is rooted here in the authoritative revelation of Jesus Christ. As Christians, we do not engage in political action because we believe the conceit that politics is all-important, but neither do we believe the lie that politics is inconsequential. We are concerned for the culture not because we believe that our greatest fulfillment is to be found in the artifacts and achievements of culture, but precisely because we believe that love of neighbor compels us to be concerned for the common weal. We believe that love of neighbor compels us to be concerned for liberty. We believe that love of neighbor compels us to be concerned for freedom in every corner of the world. Our concern as Christians should be to see our neighbors saved from an immediate peril that we may have the opportunity to proclaim to them the Gospel so that they might be saved from an ultimate, eternal peril. Like Augustine, it is love of neighbor — rooted finally in love for God — that compels us to want and hope and pray for the good of our society.

Sometimes it can seem that Christians are standing on unsteady ground. While the world seeks to dismantle the foundations of our faith, compromise threatens the church from within. In times of turmoil, Scripture reminds us where our true security lies: in our sovereign God, whose throne can never be moved.

On May 13–14, 2022, Ligonier Ministries hosted a conference in Escondido, CA. W. Robert Godfrey, Christopher Gordon, Burk Parsons, and Derek Thomas studied Psalm 11 and encouraged us to stand firm in unsteady times, taking refuge in the Lord as the indestructible foundation of our hope.

God has established strong foundations for His people in His Word, which gives us the doctrine that enables us to trust in the Lord’s wisdom and strength. Although these foundations cannot ultimately be destroyed, they can be shaken in the church through doctrinal compromise, attempts to have a “seat at the table” for cultural influence, and simple neglect of the truth. In this message, Dr. W. Robert Godfrey looks at the roots of doctrinal erosion in the church, explaining that true influence for the kingdom of God comes through teaching people the whole counsel of God.

Hebrews 13 features specific guidance on how Christians are to live in light of the perfect atonement offered by Jesus. This guidance touches on many ethical matters, including marriage, sex, covetousness, and idolatry (vv. 4–6, 9). That raises the question of how Christians are to establish ethical standards and make ethical judgments. We will now take a short break from our study of the book of Hebrews to consider this question. Dr. R.C. Sproul’s teaching series Christian Ethics will form the basis for our devotions on this subject.

From the beginning, human beings have engaged in the study of ethics, attempting to determine the basis for what is right and wrong. Although there has been much disagreement over what constitutes the standard of ethical judgments, most ethicists have believed that there is some objective standard to which human beings are accountable. That began to change with the eighteenth-century Enlightenment and the philosophical movements that followed it. The Enlightenment represented a confidence in the power of human reason unaided by divine revelation to solve our problems. However, this confidence eventually gave way to despair when people discovered that human reason has limits. We cannot know everything. Instead of returning to divine revelation, however, ethicists began to say that the limits of human reason mean that we cannot know the objective standard for ethics even if one exists. Eventually, this bore fruit in modern ethical relativism, which says that there is no universal moral standard, that what is right for one person may not be right for anyone else. Today, most Westerners would confess moral relativism.

Although such relativism is a new development in the West, it has appeared in human history before. We see in Judges 21:25 that during the era of the judges, everyone in Israel did what was right in their own eyes, and this because there was no king. There was no human king because there was no human monarchy, but there was also no divine King because while God ruled over Israel and the world even then, the Israelites did not obey His law. His moral standards were seen as optional; they did not believe they were obligated to keep His objective moral law. Functionally, they rejected His kingship over them. So, they did whatever they wanted. Without belief in a fixed, transcendent standard of right and wrong, they had no reason to do otherwise.

Although Christian foundations were crucial to the rise of Western culture, those foundations have been under constant attack since the serpent entered the garden. They remain under attack in our day. In this session, Rev. Thabiti Anyabwile will explain the importance of protecting these foundations and examine how Christians should respond to the attacks.

In our study of the General Epistles this year, one of the themes that has come up again and again is our need to be prepared to defend the faith and be ready for the onslaught of false teachers. False teachers were the special concern of 2 Peter, and as we will see over the course of the next few months, they are also very important to the Johannine letters and Jude.

False teaching comes in many forms; some of it is isolated and not well-organized, while some of it is found conceptualized in highly organized religions, traditions, and world-views. In our world today, perhaps the greatest single threat of false teaching is represented by the religion of Islam. Even though it is not often thought of as such, some consider Islam to be a Christian heresy because of the importance it attaches to Jesus and the self-conscious way in which it has opposed the church throughout the centuries. Whether or not it is really a Christian heresy, it is a false religion, and many of the doctrines attacked by Islam are also attacked by other systems of false teaching. Therefore, we do well to become grounded in these doctrines so that we might be ready to defend them from the assaults of Islam and other forms of unbelief. In order to help us do this, we will spend the next two weeks comparing the doctrines of Islam with the doctrines of Christianity with the help of The Cross and the Crescent, a teaching series featuring Dr. R.C. Sproul and former Muslim Abdul Saleeb.

We will conclude today by noting that Islam’s attack on Christianity comes on four main fronts. We will look at each of these in more detail over the course of the next few weeks of studies.

The View of God: The personal relationship we have with God as Father and the doctrine of the Trinity are both anathema to Islam.

The View of Man: Total depravity and the fact that salvation is by grace alone are both denied by Muslims.

The View of Christ: Islam does not recognize the deity of Christ or the substitutionary atonement.

The View of the Bible: Muslims question the authenticity of the Bible, saying that Christians have corrupted the Word of God.

Christianity has been a significant influence on the American Republic from its earliest days. Do you know the riveting stories of the colonial settlers, the faith they shared, and the challenges they endured in this brave new world? Better yet, why not experience this history for yourself?

On November 5–11, 2022, we invite you to travel with us on our American Foundations Study Tour. Two of Ligonier’s Teaching Fellows, Drs. Steven Lawson and Stephen Nichols, will bring the story of this nation to life. Join us on this seven-day study tour as we explore some of America’s greatest historical sites, discover the story of the French Huguenots, and walk in the footsteps of figures such as John Wesley and George Whitefield. On this remarkable journey, encounter the faith of many of America’s earliest settlers and the enduring heritage they leave for Christians today.

Space for this study tour is limited, so we encourage you to register as soon as possible to ensure that you can join us this fall.

What do the five points of Calvinism really mean?There are a lot of misconceptions in popular culture and the church regarding Reformed theology. Some references to it are positive, some negative. It's time for a full, understandable explanation of what it really is and why it matters.What Is Reformed Theology? is an accessible introduction to a set of beliefs and concepts that have been immensely influential in the evangelical church. In this insightful book, Dr. R.C. Sproul walks you through the foundations of the Reformed doctrine and explains how the Reformed belief is centered on God, based on God's Word, and committed to faith in Jesus Christ. Dr. Sproul explains the five points of Reformed theology and makes plain the reality of God's amazing grace.

Who are you, really? Many people in the church today face an identity crisis. But the Apostle Paul had no question about what it meant to be a Christian: he was “in Christ.” Recovering this New Testament phrase is the key to understanding our identity and enjoying all the blessings of salvation. In this book, Dr. Sinclair Ferguson introduces the defining reality of the Christian life—our union with Christ. As we embrace the transformative truth of being “in Him,” we can live out of the fullness of joy, purpose, and assurance that the gospel brings. Endorsements “It is sometimes said that preachers come to have only one sermon. When kindly expressed, this is far from being a criticism! On the contrary, the meaning is not that the preacher simply says the same thing every time you hear him; it is that he is always saying different things via the same things: his deepest convictions about what it means to know and love the triune God. I know I speak for many in saying that one of the richest blessings of Sinclair Ferguson‘s ministry is the extent to which he has been captivated and shaped by the doctrine of union with Christ. For him, it is as much a meta-affection as a metanarrative; it is evident in the foundations as much as the structures of his thought; it overflows in his writing as much as in his preaching; it nourishes us in person as much as from the pulpit. So here is a delightful book on a glorious doctrine that Sinclair cannot preach and write about enough. May God use it to grant us all life-changing sight of what it means to belong to Jesus forever.“ —Dr. David Gibson “In this hugely readable little book, Sinclair Ferguson provides us with a biblical-theological road map of a truth that lies at the heart of biblical Christianity and that has shaped his own life and ministry for more than fifty years: union with Christ. Dr. Ferguson expounds the key New Testament passages that unpack for us the meaning of union with Christ and draws out their practical implications for living a joy-filled, Christ-loving, God-honoring life. The closing long quote from John Calvin‘s Institutes (2.16.19) is worth the cost of the book-read it slowly, out loud, and feel the weight of Christ-saturated truth. This is a book to read and reread, a book worthy to be a vade mecum, a book to slip into your pocket and take with you wherever you go.“ —Dr. Ian Hamilton

This call for the doxological reformation of the church is offered to “ministers who lead their congregations in worship, musicians who seek a deeper understanding of the spiritual purpose of their work, [and] seminary students who are clarifying their commitment to biblical worship….” Give Praise to God continues the legacy of James Montgomery Boice by examining the biblical foundations for worship, the warranted elements of corporate worship, worship in the home and in all of life, and worship throughout the ages.

This is a pastoral, thoughtful, encouraging, challenging and, above all, radically God-centered book. The thirty brief but compelling chapters remind us that this world is not our home, that our destiny is ‘a city that has foundations whose designer and builder is God,’ and that we are called to live world-engaging, Christ-glorifying lives. It also highlights a most important aspect of the gospel’s message – the cosmic nature of Christ’s redemption, from its beginning in the wake of Adam’s tragic fall in humanity’s first home, the garden of Eden, to its consummation in the new heavens and new earth. Here is a call to all Christians to live as pilgrims, pressing onwards and upwards to our eternal home.

Did you know that the preaching of the Word of God has unique sin-killing, life-giving power—and brings great blessing to those who hear and receive it? In this helpful primer for congregations, Pastor David Strain establishes the basic biblical and theological foundations of preaching, highlights historical examples, and responds to questions, fears, and objections about expositional preaching in a Reformed church. Written for the church, the Blessings of the Faith series introduces and celebrates Reformed doctrine and practice—each book features a brief and practical overview of its topic with discussion questions and an extensive Q&A section.

The nineteenth century was an age that witnessed great progress in many areas of exploration and learning. However, according to J.C. Ryle, it was an age of great ignorance too. ‘With all the stir made about education’, he wryly observed, ‘the ignorance of our own country’s history is something lamentable and appalling and depressing.’ What particularly distressed Ryle was the scant knowledge of the English Reformation evident amongst his contemporaries. In this lay a grave danger: one of the reasons so many congregations drift form their evangelical foundations is their sheer ignorance of Christian history, and their lack of understanding of the major doctrinal controversies and why they matter. Therefore he taught that one of the best ways to stop Christians wavering ‘with every changing wind of doctrine’ (Eph. 4:14) is to instill in them a deep love for Reformation and Puritan teaching, and a willingness to suffer for those gospel truths. The Bible often calls us to remember the past, Ryle explained, but the devil tries to make us forget. If the church is to be strengthened, then Christians must be persuaded to read the saints of the past and to learn the lessons of church history.Ryle’s abiding hope for Light From Old Times is that our souls will be stirred to prayer and action by the great testimonies of Reformers and Puritans found within its pages, and then that we will dig deeper into the writings of these spiritual giants.