R.C. Sproul's Blog, page 87

Resources to Serve You During the COVID-19 Outbreak

Coronavirus. It’s a word that will likely remain etched in each of our minds for years to come. With this word comes a daily reminder of the threat that the virus poses. These are uncertain times outside and inside the church. Congregations around the globe are experiencing significant constraints on their ability to gather corporately and in small groups. In Ligonier’s 50-year history as a ministry, we’ve seen nothing like this. Yet, church history reveals time and time again that Christians of conviction must rise above their circumstances—big or small—for the sake of the gospel to the glory of God.

Ligonier seeks to be the first to serve Christians around the world who are being awakened to the holiness of God. By God’s merciful provision of Dr. Sproul’s vision and the generosity of supporters like you, we are able to make many of our online outreaches even more available in order to serve churches and Christians around the world during this unprecedented moment.

This past week, we unlocked Ligonier’s entire teaching series library with over 2,500 lectures and more than 1,000 hours of teaching. These messages will remain free to stream through at least June 30. Stream any series on Ligonier’s website or on the Ligonier app. Our app is available in the App Store for iPhone, iPad, and Apple TV, as well as on Google Play for your phone or tablet. You can also get it on Amazon and Roku. Just visit Ligonier.org/app or search for “Ligonier” in your app store to begin.

During this time, we have also enabled you to freely download the digital study guides that accompany many of our teaching series. Just add a digital study guide to your online cart and visit checkout with no required payment. Digital study guides allow you to dig even deeper into your study and share what you are learning online with others in your community.

In place of this year’s National Conference, we hosted a special live online event, Made in the Image of God, on March 19. Over 100,000 people viewed the livestream as our Teaching Fellows and several guest teachers considered the reality that we have been created in God’s image. They also discussed the radical implications of the image of God for the unprecedented days in which we are living. You can watch each session from this event for free on our YouTube channel or in the Ligonier app.

Study groups at Ligonier Connect are now also free. To help you stay connected online with friends and church members, you can create your own private online classroom and invite friends to take any course in our library together. You can set a schedule for completing the group course, track the progress of your classmates, and receive notification if they ask any questions along the way. Creating a group is easy, and we’ll guide you through the process. Invite your friends and start learning together today.

Have an Amazon Prime account? We’ve made 20+ teaching series available to Prime members through June 30. This includes all seventy-three messages of Dr. W. Robert Godfrey’s monumental series A Survey of Church History, plus numerous other series.

Do you subscribe to our free podcasts? Choose from several unique programs to help you grow in the truth of God. Study Scripture every day on Renewing Your Mind, travel back in time on 5 Minutes in Church History, build your theological vocabulary with Simply Put, and much more. Now, you can also hear trustworthy answers to your biblical and theological questions with our newest podcast, Ask Ligonier. Simply search for “Ligonier Ministries” in your favorite podcast app.

You can also listen anytime, every day to RefNet, our online Christian radio station. Each day features a fresh playlist of trustworthy teaching, Bible readings, music, and much more. Listen online, download the five-star app, or try our updated RefNet Skill with Amazon Alexa. Just enable the skill and say, “Alexa, start RefNet.”

If you don’t subscribe already, try Tabletalk, our monthly magazine dedicated to helping believers grow in Christ. With articles from pastors, scholars, and teachers, every issue of Tabletalk focuses on something different. Each issue contains feature articles, daily Bible studies, and columns touching on biblical, theological, and practical themes to help strengthen and encourage you in your faith. Your trial also gives you full access to our online library at TabletalkMagazine.com. No credit card information is required to begin your trial, so there’s no risk. This month’s issue, on the providential topic of fear, is also free to read online.

You can also get Tabletalk for your church or Bible study for only $1 per issue. When you request five or more issues each month, you’ll automatically receive this special bulk subscription discount. This is an easy and affordable way to equip your friends, family, and church members to go deeper in their Bible study. Just visit GetTabletalk.com/group, select the number of issues you want each month, and enter your name and address.

We hope these outreaches will serve you, your family, and your church as you seek to steward this unique season well for your own spiritual growth and the discipleship of others. We encourage you to share this page so that even more people can benefit from these resources.

All of Ligonier’s gospel outreach is made possible by the generous support of donors. Thank you for helping to proclaim the holiness of God to people around the world.

 

Ligonier Connect Group Study Is Now Free

Study groups at Ligonier Connect provide you with a private online classroom where you can invite friends to take any course in our library together. For a limited time, we are offering all group studies for free.

As the circumstances surrounding the coronavirus (COVID-19) have resulted in the cancellation of many Bible studies, small groups, and Sunday school classes, our study groups can help you stay connected online. Set a schedule for completing the group course and track the progress of your classmates. You’ll also get notifications of any questions they ask along the way.

Not sure where to begin? Try these courses:

Dealing with Difficult Problems with R.C. Sproul
The Book of Job with Derek Thomas
The Attributes of God with Steven Lawson
A Time for Confidence with Stephen Nichols
The Great Commission with Burk Parsons

Study groups will remain free until at least June 30. Creating a group is easy, and we’ll guide you through the process. Invite your friends and start learning together today.

Stream for Free: Made in the Image of God

Stream all of the messages from yesterday’s special live online event for free on Ligonier.org, the Ligonier app, and YouTube.

EVENT SESSIONS

Christ the Image of God by Michael Reeves
The Dignity of God's Image Bearers by Stephen Nichols
The Depravity of God's Image Bearers by Steven Lawson
The imago Dei, Human Dignity, and the Present Crisis by W. Robert Godfrey
The Dominion of God's Image Bearers by H.B. Charles Jr.
Panel Discussion: Pastoral Care in Times of Crisis with Charles, Ferguson, and Parsons
The Church and the Governing Authorities by Derek Thomas
The Church as a Caring Community by Burk Parsons
The Gospel, the Church, and This Present Crisis by John MacArthur
Ask Ligonier with Ferguson, Nichols, Parsons, and Thomas
The Hope of God's Image Bearers by Sinclair Ferguson

Will you join us in Orlando next spring? Register by April 4 for our 2021 National Conference to secure your spot for $159 and save 50% off the standard rate. This is the lowest registration rate we will offer.

Register Now

 

Announcing Our 2021 National Conference: Right Now Counts Forever

If you are nothing more than a cosmic accident, your life doesn’t matter. Your joys, pains, sacrifices, and triumphs last for a moment before disappearing forever. But God’s Word refutes this devastating lie. Since we were purposefully made by a wise Creator, every moment of our lives bears inestimable value—because every moment matters for eternity.

Marking fifty years since the founding of Ligonier Ministries, our National Conference in 2021 will consider the eternal significance of our everyday lives by equipping us today to better serve the Lord, love our neighbors, and make Christ known. With our glorious future in view, Christians do not have less of a stake in the present, but infinitely more. As Dr. R.C. Sproul so often reminded us, right now counts forever. We hope you’ll join us next spring in Orlando.

Next year’s speakers include Voddie Baucham, Alistair Begg, Sinclair Ferguson, W. Robert Godfrey, Joel Kim, Steven Lawson, Stephen Nichols, Burk Parsons, John Piper, Michael Reeves, and Derek Thomas.

Register by April 4 to secure your spot for $159 and save 50% off the standard rate. This is the lowest registration rate we will offer.

Register & Save

 

How Do You Carry out Discipleship and Evangelism in Your Church?

Some churches do many things to draw crowds, but spiritual growth revolves around the Word of God. From one of our Ask Ligonier events, H.B. Charles Jr. explains what discipleship and evangelism look like at his church.

Just ask Ligonier to get clear and trustworthy answers to your biblical and theological questions.

Read the Transcript

The Imago Dei

The opening chapter of our Bible is a thrilling story of creation and formation, laying the foundation for all that follows. We are told that “in the beginning” our home in the universe, the earth, was formless and void, covered in water and shrouded in darkness, while the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters (Gen. 1:2).

As the days of creation unfolded, God gave form to the earth and filled it. He separated the day from the night, the waters above from the waters below, and the dry land from the waters below. God filled these realms by putting lights in the sky to separate the day from the night, creating living creatures to swim in the waters below and birds to fly in the sky above, and causing the earth to bring forth living creatures on the dry land. Finally, as the culminating act, God created another type of living being, man.

The focus of the narrative clearly falls on this creature. Not only was this the final act of creation, but fully one-fourth of the story is centered on it. Something very special and quite important is before us.

The chapter divides the totality of beings into two basic categories: the Creator and the created. God stands alone as the uncreated Lord of all, the maker of the heavens and the earth. Everything else is created and thus finite, temporal, dependent, and changeable. Some are living creatures (the plants and the animals). Some have the breath of life in them (v. 30). Among this group is man. Like other members of the group, man is made both male and female, and called to be fruitful, to multiply, and to fill the earth (vv. 22, 28). Other similarities could be noticed (hair on the skin, females give birth to their young and suckle them, and so on). But for all the similarities that may be noted, there is something about man that makes him quite distinct from all the other creatures.

Living things are first mentioned with the vegetation that God causes to sprout on the dry land (v. 11). Then come the creatures that live in the seas and birds that fly in the air (v. 20), livestock, creeping things, and beasts of the earth (v. 24). They are all made according to their kinds. This phrase occurs ten times and leaves a bold imprint on the narrative. It indicates that while there is great diversity among all the living creatures, there are groupings among them that share common features, forming as it were “families” of things, as in the modern distinction between genus and species. But the main purpose of the phrase is not so much to introduce us to the scientific work of taxonomy; rather, it is to provide the background necessary for contrasting human beings with all the other living creatures.

When God makes man, He breaks the pattern that He has set by creating living things according to their kinds. The tenfold mention of this pattern causes us to expect it with each new living creature to appear, but something quite diferent happens when man is made; he is not made “according to [his] kind.” Neither is man created according to any other kind among the living creatures. Man does not, therefore, belong to their kinds, whatever similarities there may be between him and the other creatures. To put it in modern scientific language, he is not a particular species within a given genus of living creatures. Man is unlike any of the other living creatures (v. 26). Surprising as it is, man is made according to God’s “kind,” made in the image of God (imago Dei). Man, like God, is a personal being. God Himself, as the Bible later reveals, is three persons all sharing one divine essence. Human persons are created beings, and in that regard (as in others) they are similar to and share characteristics with other created beings. But what is most important about human persons is their likeness to God. This likeness is so very special that it sets man apart from all the other creatures God made. Man is not made according to their kinds; he is made according to God’s “kind.” In other words, man is made as the image and likeness of God.

Bearing the imago Dei, the human persons are given a measure of sovereignty over all the earth, with dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, the livestock, and every creeping thing (v. 28). They are also charged to subdue the earth (v. 28). The language suggests a ruling, even conquering, position, as Psalm 8 makes plain (see vv. 5–8). All things are placed under man’s feet, but tyranny and exploitation are not in view. Genesis 2:4–25 shows that man is to follow the example of God in his stewardship of the earth. God plants a garden in Eden, and He puts the man there to work it and keep it (2:8, 15). What God initiates, man is to sustain and cultivate. God names the light day and the darkness night; He calls the expanse heaven and the waters seas (1:5, 8, 10). Now God commissions man to name all of the living creatures that He has made (2:19).

Though it doesn’t use the vocabulary of image and likeness, Genesis 2 has its own way of underscoring the uniqueness of human persons among all the living creatures. When God formed the man from the dust and placed him in the garden, He declared that it was not good for the man to be alone. So, God determined to make a helper fit for him (2:18).

After this solemn declaration, God presented all the animals that He had made to the man, in order that the man might name them. Why this parade of animals before the man? Why did God not immediately create the woman? What looks like an interruption in the story is actually driving home the motivation for the story: “But for Adam there was not found a helper fit for him” (v. 20). The point is that human beings do not really belong to the animals, whatever characteristics they might share with them. There was not found among all the animals a helper fit for Adam, a created being of the same kind as he, with whom he could fulfill his calling from God. Thus, God made a woman, who was “bone of [his] bones and flesh of [his] flesh” (v. 23). Like Adam, she was made in the image and likeness of God (1:28). Together they were to labor in fulfilling the work of God to be fruitful, to multiply, and to fill the earth and subdue it. God made the first male and female, but all other humans would come into existence through them. What God did, the man and woman now were to continue, having been made in the image and likeness of God.

Tragically, the man and the woman turned away from God and fell into sin, seeking to become yet more like God (3:5), to choose for themselves what is good and evil. The image of God was defaced. Though made upright, they sought out many schemes (Eccl. 7:29). Their descendants would likewise bear this defaced image (Rom. 5:12–21).

Yet the image of God was not entirely lost, and what remains is still sufcient to sustain the sanctity of human life that is grounded in the imago Dei. Genesis 9:6 shows that taking innocent human life is an attack on the image of God, so it must be punished by death. Man as the image of God is to be a giver of life, not a taker of innocent life. When we become murderers, we contradict our purpose in life and forfeit the divine protection that ordinarily covers us. So special is our life to God that even a beast is put to death if it takes the life of a human being (Gen. 9:5, Ex. 21:28–32).

Further, as we are to respect God and bless Him by our words, so we must never curse those made in the likeness of God (James 3:9). The whole of human ethics is grounded in the imago Dei. Husbands must love their wives as Christ loved the church (Eph. 5:25–27). Fathers must discipline and instruct their children as the Lord does His children (6:4). The comforting love of a mother is the image and likeness of the comforting love of God (Isa. 66:13). Earthly masters should reflect the justice and fairness found in the heavenly Master (Eph. 6:9; Col. 4:1). Though sin has greatly defaced God’s image in us, by God’s grace in Christ that image is renewed (Eph. 4:24; Col. 3:10). Living by that grace, people see our good works and give glory to our Father who is in heaven (Matt. 5:16). When our restoration is complete, we shall forever live in the presence of God, clothed with His glory (Rev. 21–22), having truly become His “kind” of people. Thanks be to God.

$5 Friday (And More): Prayer, Theology, and Perseverance

It’s time for our weekly $5 Friday sale. This week’s resources include such topics as prayer, theology, perseverance, the book of Exodus, Martin Luther, William Tyndale, and more.

Plus, several bonus resources are also available for more than $5. These have been significantly discounted from their original price. This week’s bonus resources include:

War on the Word: 2002 National Conference , Audio & Video Download $24 $8 (Save 73%)
The Power and the Glory: 2003 National Conference , Audio & Video Download $24 $8 (Save 73%)
The Power and the Glory: 2003 National Conference , Audio & Video Download $24 $8 (Save 73%)
Upsetting the World: 2000 National Conference , Audio & Video Download $20.80 $89 (Save 69%)
Contending for the Truth: 2007 National Conference , Audio & Video Download $22.40 $8 (Save 71%)
Bought with a Price: 2006 National Conference , Audio & Video Download $24 $8 (Save 73%)
The Next 500 Years: 2017 National Conference , Audio & Video Download $28.80 $8 (Save 75%)

Sale runs through 12:01 a.m.–11:59 p.m. Friday ET.

View today’s $5 Friday sale items.

Made in the Image of God

In place of this year’s National Conference, we hosted Made in the Image of God, a special live online event on March 19, 2020.

The reality that we have been created in God’s image has radical implications for the Christian life and how we relate to those around us. Our livestream event explored this truth and our God-given calling to serve well in our families, vocations, churches, and communities. These are truly unprecedented days in which we are living. As Christians, we need God’s Word to give us strength, for in the days to come the church will have even greater opportunities to proclaim the holiness of God in all its fullness.

EVENT SESSIONS INCLUDE:

Christ the Image of God by Michael Reeves
The Dignity of God’s Image Bearers by Stephen Nichols
The Depravity of God’s Image Bearers by Steven Lawson
The Imago Dei, Human Dignity, and the Present Crisis by W. Robert Godfrey
The Dominion of God’s Image Bearers by H.B. Charles Jr.
Panel Discussion: Pastoral Care in Times of Crisis with Charles, Ferguson, and Parsons
The Church and the Governing Authorities by Derek Thomas
The Church as a Caring Community by Burk Parsons
The Gospel, the Church, and This Present Crisis by John MacArthur
Ask Ligonier with Ferguson, Nichols, Parsons, and Thomas
The Hope of God’s Image Bearers by Sinclair Ferguson

Please help the teaching from this event reach more people by sharing the stream on social media.

Watch each message from this special event for free on Ligonier.org and the Ligonier app.

¿Hablas español? Con la ayuda de Dios, en las próximas semanas esperamos publicar cada sesión doblada al español.

Live Now: Made in the Image of God

In place of this year’s National Conference, our special online event, Made in the Image of God, is now live. The event will continue until approximately 4:30 p.m. ET. Join us here on our blog, YouTube, Facebook, or Twitter to receive trustworthy teaching throughout the day.

The reality that we have been created in God’s image has radical implications for the Christian life and how we relate to those around us. This livestream event will explore this truth and our God-given calling to serve well in our families, vocations, churches, and communities. These are truly unprecedented days in which we are living. As Christians, we need God’s Word to give us strength, for in the days to come the church will have even greater opportunities to proclaim the holiness of God in all its fullness. 

EVENT SESSIONS INCLUDE:

Christ the Image of God by Michael Reeves
The Dignity of God’s Image Bearers by Stephen Nichols
The Depravity of God’s Image Bearers by Steven Lawson
The Imago Dei, Human Dignity, and the Present Crisis by W. Robert Godfrey
The Dominion of God’s Image Bearers by H.B. Charles Jr.
Panel Discussion: Pastoral Care in Times of Crisis with Charles, Ferguson, and Parsons
The Church and the Governing Authorities by Derek Thomas
The Church as a Caring Community by Burk Parsons
The Gospel, the Church, and This Present Crisis by John MacArthur
Ask Ligonier with Ferguson, Nichols, Parsons, and Thomas
The Hope of God’s Image Bearers by Sinclair Ferguson

Please help the teaching from this event reach more people by sharing the stream on social media. We hope you’ll join us for this special live event.

Later this week, we’ll also be adding each message from this special event to watch for free on Ligonier.org and the Ligonier app.

¿Hablas español? Con la ayuda de Dios, en las próximas semanas esperamos publicar cada sesión doblada al español.

We Are Not Germs: The Case for Human Dignity

Several years ago, the mother of a college student came to me wringing her hands, saying: “I don’t know what to do with my son. I’ve been praying for him for years; he’s in total rebellion. He’s smoking dope; he’s doing all these wild and crazy things, and he won’t listen to me about the Christian faith. Will you talk to him?” I cautioned her that forcing him to come talk to me would make him a reluctant audience, but I nevertheless agreed to her request. She persuaded the young man to come and see me. When he came in, he was sullen, curt, and obviously hostile. So I asked him, “Who are you mad at?” He replied, “My mother.” And I said, “Why are you angry at your mother?” He said he was mad at her because “every time I turn around she keeps trying to shove religion down my throat.”

I said, “I see, you don’t buy into Christianity?” He said, “No, sir.” “OK,” I replied, “so what do you believe?” He said, “I believe that everybody should have the right to do their own thing.” “Alright,” I answered, “but why are you mad at your mother?” He said, “What do you mean?” “Well,” I replied, “maybe it’s your mother’s thing to shove religion down people’s throats. What I hear you saying is that you want everybody to do their own thing as long as their own thing doesn’t impose upon your own thing. And you want to be able to do your own thing even if it does impose on other people’s own thing.”

I said, “Don’t you see that if you complained to me on the basis of Christian ethical standards that things would be diferent? If your mother is provoking you to wrath and is being thoroughly insensitive to you as a person, then I would have a foundation upon which to stand with you. I could defend your cause against your mother.” At that point, he started getting interested in the Christian faith. Of course, the point of the illustration is that the young man knew what he didn’t like, but he hadn’t thought it through. He wanted to come to the conclusion that there is no basis ultimately for ethics, but he couldn’t live in that domain. And that is the point that even a non-Christian philosopher such as Immanuel Kant made, namely, that life ultimately is impossible without God, without justice, without life after the grave.

The bottom line is this: if there is no God, if there is no life after death, then ultimately all of our ethical decisions are absolutely meaningless. That’s a true and inescapable conclusion. If we think about it, it’s the only conclusion we can reach if we have absented God from our thinking. The only alternative to an absolute ethic is a relative ethic. We cannot have an absolute ethic without a personal Creator.

To confess that God is Creator is to confess that we are not cosmic accidents, devoid of ultimate value. We came from somewhere significant and we are headed toward a destination of importance.

Mechanistic determinists and hyperevolutionists say that the human animal is the highest advance up a scale of life that emerged out of primordial slime. Humanity, the grownup germ, is the result of accidental cosmic forces, and the destiny of the human race is at the mercy of these indiferent, impersonal forces. This view does not leave us in total darkness about the goal of human existence, nor does it point us in the direction of significance. What began in the slime is destined for organic disorganization or disintegration.

The mechanistic view ofers no understanding of the meaning of life. Attempts have been made to develop a sense of mechanistic ethics. All have failed. Why should germs be moral? If I am a cosmic accident, why should I care about you? Why prefer life over death? What is so special about life? Why should a human being be valued over a stone?

Modern versions of secular humanism embrace this mechanistic or evolutionary description of our origins, and yet they do not follow through to the inevitable conclusion. Yes, all forms of humanism share a concern for humanity and its well-being, but apart from God there can be no lasting, permanent foundation for such a concern. Both Christianity and humanism seek the healing of estranged relationships, and both honor the dignity of the human being. However, their bases for dignity are radically diferent. The Christian sees the horizontal, interpersonal relation as inseparable from the vertical relationship with God.

To remain at the human, horizontal level is to neglect the path toward eternal human significance. To establish human dignity without acknowledging the God of creation, the humanist must act in an arbitrary and irrational fashion. If humans rose by chance from chaos, why should dignity be ascribed to them? Since the advent of the Christian faith, humanism has constantly incorporated Christian values and ethics while ripping the heart out of Christianity’s theological context. Yet that context is the only reason the values and ethics make sense. As a representative human, I resent the moral demands if someone tells me I “ought” to do this or that, without giving me any reason. Humanists have for no reason made dignity and value the “givens” of human experience. To be sure, our experience agrees with their assessment. It screams that life is valuable and that each person is a creature of immense worth and dignity. That scream is hollow, however, if it comes from a germ with no destiny but death.

Christianity teaches that human dignity is rooted in the holiness of God; it reflects God’s dignity. That is because human beings are made in the image of God (Gen. 1:27). The Creator, who possesses infinite value and worth, has stamped us with a value and dignity that is derivative of His own value and dignity. Lose that idea, and you have lost any transcendent, foundational reason to treat human beings any differently than you treat a dog, a dolphin, or even a weed. It is no accident that the two greatest commandments are love of God and love of neighbor (Matt. 22:34–40). You cannot have the latter without the former and those who truly have the former will also have the latter, for if we love the God of infinite dignity, we will also love people because they reflect, however imperfectly, His dignity.

Our notions of dignity are ultimately based on God’s dignity and our being made in God’s image. Thus, we apply titles of dignity to people, but not to animals or other elements of creation. John Smith appears to sound more important when he is called “Dr. Smith,” “the honorable Congressman Smith,” or “President Smith.” But “Germ Smith” just doesn’t have the same ring. People do not build monuments to germs. Few people grieve when a fly dies.

This is not just a semantic or historical matter. The value diference between humanist and creation visions of human worth has profound significance. Martin Luther King Jr. did not give his life to advance the cause of equal civil rights for black germs. Many thousands now work tirelessly in the right-to-life movement, but not to save the lives of preborn viruses. Although at the gut level we automatically assume the dignity of human beings, it is pure nonsense apart from creation.

I know that secular humanism waxes eloquent about how important it is for us to be virtuous and how important it is for us to work for human dignity and for freedom and industry and love. But intellectually, I’ve never seen anything more pitiful than the type of philosophical humanism that tells us on the one hand that our origin as human beings is a cosmic accident, that we are grownup germs who have emerged fortuitously from the slime, and that we are destined ultimately to annihilation to nonbeing, to the abyss of das Nichtige, the nothingness, but that even so, we enjoy enormous significance in between our origin and our destiny. Talk about fantasy and wish projection. Talk about blind faith and leaping into absurdity. What could be more absurd than to celebrate the significance of grownup germs? I say candidly to the secular humanist: “Don’t come to me and tell me about human dignity, because I don’t care whether white germs or black germs sit in the back of the bus. And I don’t care about whose slime is blown away by a nuclear holocaust. If I’m going to care about human beings and about human dignity, I want a reason.”

If you call me to sacrificial, altruistic action in behalf of human beings, you better have a reason. And it should be greater than simply, we should be for people because we’re people. Because unless we can establish that it means something to be people, it’s pure emotion. And rights granted on the basis of pure emotion ultimately unravel. What emotion gives, it can also take away. But if our human dignity is given by God and that is recognized by our culture, then we have fundamental human rights that inform how we treat other people under the law and even one on one at the personal level.