Justification: Final and Irreversible
Things Unseen with Sinclair B. Ferguson
Ligonier Ministries
4.9 • 1.7K Ratings
🗓️ 16 November 2023
⏱️ 7 minutes
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Summary
From the moment we first trusted in Christ, we were declared as perfectly righteous in the sight of God as Jesus Himself is. Today, Sinclair Ferguson marvels at the wonder of justification by faith alone.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Last week we were talking on things unseen about the entire book of Romans, and this week |
| 0:13.1 | we've been thinking about only one verse, Romans chapter 8 verse 30. Something very funny |
| 0:19.6 | happened years ago when several of the Ligonier teaching fellows were sitting around a table |
| 0:24.5 | recording a program, and right at the end we were talking about how to read the Bible, |
| 0:30.7 | and I used an illustration of how when I was young, peppermints were the standard candy, |
| 0:36.9 | and when I was given one, attended to crunch it, so it was gone in a couple of minutes, |
| 0:42.3 | whereas older people sucked them and could make them last for half an hour. |
| 0:47.7 | And I wanted to make the point that we should meditate succ slowly on verses of scripture, |
| 0:53.4 | and right at the end I made this confident pronouncement, so when it comes to reading the Bible, |
| 0:59.4 | we shouldn't be crushers, we should be suckers, and there was a kind of stun silence among the |
| 1:05.9 | teaching fellows. For a moment I thought they were amazed at my insight and brilliant illustration, |
| 1:12.0 | and then I realized what I'd said. I'm not sure if the outburst of laughter was at the look of |
| 1:18.0 | horrified realization on my face, or at the fact I'd mistakenly thought I'd used a tremendous |
| 1:23.9 | illustration. I hoped my insight was edited well and truly out, and since the teaching fellows are |
| 1:30.8 | my friends they don't constantly remind me of the occasion, it was a very funny moment, |
| 1:36.4 | and since I was among friends I think they've forgiven me. Now I'm not going to use that terrible |
| 1:43.6 | illustration ever again, but I mention it today because it is so terrible, it might actually |
| 1:50.9 | remind you of the point I was making so badly, that we do need to linger on the teaching of scripture. |
| 1:58.8 | And that's actually what we're doing this week. We're sucking its theology. We're like bees |
| 2:05.6 | gathering nectar. Paul is teaching us that we are united to Christ in order to be transformed |
| 2:11.9 | into his likeness, and for this to happen it needs to begin in the Lord's own plan and purposes |
| 2:18.8 | in his predestination. And then we need to be drawn into that plan by his effectual calling, |
... |
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