Evangelism According to Jesus - Friday afternoon

For the afternoon session, we had two speakers: C.J. Mahaney and R.C. Sproul. For some reason, it was two people without first names.

Mahaney is a speaker "for the common man". He has no doctorate, nothing beyond a high school education. Yet, when he preached on The Resurrection of Jesus. He started with 1 Cor. 15:17. His starting point, however, was not the Resurrection. We needed an understanding of death.

Death is no accident. It is God's just response to our sin. Death is God's limit on our arrogance, creatures who would be God.

The Resurrection, then, announces the forgiveness of sin. It demonstrates the satisfaction of God's wrath. If Jesus had simply died, it would have been death like any other. But the Resurrection announced that sin was paid and wrath was averted. The Resurrection announces freedom from the fear of death and future wrath. We will grieve, but not without hope.

It is easy to simply acknowledge without applying the Resurrection. are you certain of your forgiveness, or do you feel you need to add to it somehow? How grateful are you for your forgiveness?


Dr. Sproul spoke on one of his strong suits -- Sola Fide, reading from Gal. 1:1-10 and 2:14-16. It is important to note that a faulty or substitute gospel is not "misguided" ... it is accursed.

The question is, given the power of God to save, the person of Christ, the imputation of righteousness, the substitutionary atonement, and the Resurrection, how are we to appropriate all this?

Much of Sproul's sermon was on the error of Rome. There's is a justification that starts with faith but is dependent ultimately on works, culminating in Purgatory. Gal. 2:14-16 makes it abundantly clear that justification does not occur by any sort of works.

The answer, instead, is sola fide -- faith alone. We are justified by faith apart from works. Faith is the singular method by which justification is appropriated. Faith has no merit. It is the basis on which justification is imputed.


The evening ended up with a concert by Jennifer Velazquez on organ and the Westminster Brass.

By the way, they announced next year's spring conference. You'll need to check the details when they become available, but the list of speakers is phenomenal, and the topic is the high point of Ligonier: the Holiness of God. I was considering skipping next year, but the line up for this is too good to miss.

Okay, well, there are still Saturday's morning sessions ...